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INDEPENDENT TD MICHAEL Fitzmaurice has said homeowners should be allowed to use whatever means necessary to protect their home.
The Galway-Roscommon TD has long been regarded as a voice for those living in rural Ireland.
He has spoken out frequently about rural crime and the fears of elderly people living in isolated areas, and has argued that householders should be allowed to keep pepper spray and taser guns in their bedrooms.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie in an interview, Fitzmaurice said:
I am a firm believer that if someone comes into your house in the middle of the night, they are not coming in for a cup of tea, and whatever you have to take them on with, I wouldn’t have any sympathy for them.
You will have civil liberty groups shouting, but I don’t care about that.
But he insisted calls for more action were falling on deaf ears.
“People are trying to do things themselves,” said Fitzmaurice.
I see people, when it gets dark at night, locking the doors, locking, locking, locking – they are afraid to let anyone in. It is a big issue around the country.
Fitzmaurice said Dublin and rural Ireland could not be policed in the same way.
Nothing would ever compete with a heavy presence of gardaí driving around an area, he said – but he believes more innovative solutions need to be looked at too.
Community alert systems and CCTV in strategic areas were important, he said – but voluntary groups are finding it too complicated to access the CCTV grant scheme.
The red tape that is in it is unbelievable. You have to go through Hell on Earth to get it.
This is what is going on, we are making it tough… There should be a one stop shop in councils where you can get everything, people are baffled.
He also thinks Ireland should be looking further afield for solutions to rural crime. Giving one example, Fitzmaurice said drones were being used in certain parts of the US.
“They can programme a drone to fly over a building if everyone signs up to it at night and if it sees anything suspicious it will zoom in on it and take a photo of it,” he said.
The decline in numbers of community-based gardaí is also a factor when tackling rural crime.
The gardaí are doing their best but we have lost one thing… in a lot of areas they don’t know the guards – guards [used to be] able to pick up information.
They were able to pick up a gurrier or they might have a chat with a youngster that might be starting to go wrong and get them to turn a new leaf.
Going into government
In a wide-ranging interview with TheJournal.ie, Fitzmaurice spoke about the circumstances that led to him not being one of the independent TDs who joined government – and how he is glad he things worked out as they did.
Rural issues ultimately held up progress in the final hours of the 70 day talks to form a government in 2016 – something Fitzmaurice was involved in.
Fine Gael found itself in a minority government situation, and the party badly needed to make up the numbers in order to cobble together a government.
In the end, it all came down to a turf war.
Enda Kenny began to lose support from Fitzmaurice, who had one sticking point that just wouldn’t allow him to enter into government.
Irish bogs.
Fitzmaurice, who is chairman of the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association and also a turf contractor, said he was representing turf cutters who oppose environmentally protecting raised bogs, and was trying to strike a deal on alternative locations where turf cutters could continue to harvest bogs.
There was no budging him on the issue, and Fitzmaurice later announced he was leaving the Independent Alliance and the government formation talks when there was no movement on the issue.
Once Kenny lost the support of Fitzmaurice, there were fears the Independent Alliance might follow.
But in the end, Fitzmaurice decided he couldn’t compromise on his principles, he stepped aside and the independents entered government with Fine Gael.
Does he regret not entering government when he had the chance?
God, no. No. It was the best thing I’ve done, sticking by my principles. Because I would be gone now anyway. I wouldn’t be able to stick some of the stuff that has gone on. I would be fiery. I wouldn’t tolerate bullshit.
The independents [Independent Alliance] haven’t blessed themselves in glory by any means to be honest about it. I would be either in or out and some of the stuff that has gone on…
Fitzmaurice has some harsh criticism for his former independent colleagues, stating that they have taken a “back seat” on many issues.
“I think they handled the whole Frances Fitzgerald scenario very bad. They were in the back seat. It wasn’t good policy to hear that the likes of Stepaside was opening when a person wrote about cronyism all their life,” he said.
While turf was Fitzmaurice’s local issue in the government formation talks, Stepaside Garda Station, which was closed during the recession, was Shane Ross’s constituency issue.
Following the Independent Alliance entering government it was announced that the garda station was to re-open. Ross has denied the prioritisation of Stepaside in south Dublin was a case of “stroke politics”.
The Independent Alliance in government haven’t “put their mark” on their briefs in government, though he admitted it can’t always be easy to be the minority group in government.
Okay, it may be tough. It is not easy on them because there is a big party and a small party, but you have deliver. When I was in talking about the programme for government, and I don’t regret being in there, it was a great experience. Were there things you would do different, yeah…
National Broadband Plan is a ‘fiasco’
Hitting out at one minister, and one that happens to be a constituency rival of his, Fitzmaurice dubbed the rollout of broadband in rural Ireland (the responsibility of Denis Naughten) as “a fiasco”.
“I am actually embarrassed by the broadband, and again, you have the independents looking after that. We are jumping from one thing to the other with broadband… I am sick listening to it.
“We are going to pump money into a private operation that is going to dictate the price themselves, we are not going to be able to handle it instead of seeing the bigger picture of saying well we own the infrastructure and renting it out to them.
It is down to the person in my opinion. Either you are fit to be a minister or you are not. You either put a mark on it or you don’t. You either take on your department, because remember, a lot of department’s are institutionalised and you either taken them on and make the changes or you keep cutting the tapes, smiling at everyone and do nothing.
And unfortunately, a lot of ministers don’t kick ass like they should.
Another issue the rural TD has spoken openly about is the new drink driving legislation introduced under Transport Minister and Independent Alliance member, Shane Ross, who he also has criticisms for.
New drink driving legislation means that those caught with 50mg-80mg blood-alcohol levels will face an automatic disqualification from driving, while previously, they walked away with penalty points and a fine.
Drink-driving
Fitzmaurice explains that he does not condone drink driving, but said Ross is taking the wrong approach on the drink-driving issue by giving out about rural TD’s who do not agree with him.
“There are elderly people that might be taking two glasses or three glasses and they are now, because they don’t know if they are in it or over it, them people are becoming prisoners in their own houses,” he said, adding:
“And fine, if we want to bring in something, let’s bring in a bus service to compensate for it – in Dublin here I can jump on a bus at 12 o’clock tonight, down the country you never see a bus.”
The proposal by Fine Gael TD Martin Heydon, backed by junior Transport Minister Brendan Griffin, is to roll out more buses to bring people home from the pub.
I heard Martin Heydon talking about it the other day – he was talking shite to be honest about 38 new buses – 38 buses wouldn’t do it, sure there is 5,000 kilometres of road in county Galway…
Fitzmaurice said the government are great at bringing in legislation but not so good at bringing in solutions that are realistic.
He argued that the new law “is not going mean one iota to saving lives”, adding:
“You know why, because the person who is two or three times over the limit is still going to be two or three times over the limit because the legislation is there to put them off. There is no excuse for it and no one condones it but legislation is there.
The only way to combat drink driving is feet on the street and obviously that costs money. So a government will bring in everything as a sideline issue but they won’t hit it where it needs hitting and that is garda on the street.
As a cattle and sheep farmer, Fitzmaurice is keen to protect Irish farmers.
He said the industry is facing a number of challenges, but those in financial difficulty are facing one of the biggest threats.
Farming families are losing their land as vulture funds move in on the indebted properties.
Those with loans acquired by vulture funds have come under mounting pressure in recent months as the foreign investment companies demand immediate payment of monies owed.
Unlike any other small or medium business, farmers use the equity in their land to invest in their farm – farms that have been in the family for decades.
Fitzmaurice said vulture funds are willing to sell out the farm over the heads of the farmer.
If we don’t protect the family farms, well we won’t be talking about rural Ireland in a few years time… we are fighting vulture funds. They are torturising families. It is unbelievable and Paschal Donohoe doesn’t give two shites being honest with you.
I spoke with him at the committee and he said he would meet me after the Finance Bill. The Finance Bill is gone. What has happened is Ireland has been bought up by a lot of places by foreign investments and for every euro that they bought they were getting two or three back and our people in this country are still being screwed paying back debt that was inflicted by them.
When asked for a response by the minister, the Finance Department said in a statement that those whose loans are sold to third parties, maintain the same regulatory protections they had prior to the sale.
The Department of Finance said it continues to keep this and all legislation under review in order to ensure that proper protections are in place.
In respect of the protection of rural Ireland, the department said the government has advanced a number of initiatives to address these problems, including utilising the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, to ensure that competitively priced finance is being made available to help farmers meet their investment and working capital requirements.
Young trained farmers are exempted from stamp duty on agricultural land transactions and the maintenance of consanguinity stamp duty relief at 1% for inter-family farm transfers extended for a further three years.
“What’s more, the Taoiseach established a new Department of Rural and Community Development last year, the aim of which is to create the conditions for sustainable rural development and to provide local level supports to support vibrant and sustainable communities across Ireland,” concluded the statement.
Fitzmaurice said he gets frustrated when he hears slogans from government like the ‘keeping the recovery going’ when workers, such as farmers, are still under immense pressure. He argues that the pushing of the ‘good news’ message by government is down to its new communications unit.
If you put €5 million into this PR unit, you are going to get spin, it is all fucking spin, it’s not substance. That is all I am hearing at the moment. They will keep that going for a while, but in the end, I see villages, with elderly people alone and younger people leaving.
And you know, it is the greatest place you ever will live, rural Ireland, the greatest place ever you will live. I would recommend it to anybody but the problem is if the opportunities disappear. You can’t drive to work in Dublin and physically drive home five days a week – there are some people doing it – but it is hellish for them.
The Galway-Roscommon TD is one of those commuters. He drives from his farm in Glenamaddy to Leinster House every day the Dáil sits, usually Tuesday to Thursday.
Fitzmaurice said he laughs when he hears government talk about making the national parliament more “family friendly”, asking why then some votes and debates go on until midnight.
“They talk about attracting more women to the Dáil. It would be very difficult for those that have kids,” he states.
I never had a problem with working long hours, but if you are talking about seeing your family… I remember I left three weeks ago on a Tuesday morning and I was at home every night in my bed at Glenamaddy, and I never saw any of them [his family and children] until Saturday.
“I am not complaining. I believe give it all while you are there, and get out if you don’t like it.”
While family carers are means tested for carers allowance.
@Úna O Connor Barrett: you can say that again
@Úna O Connor Barrett: The funds are there Una, they just do not care… Let them know in the next election..
@Úna O Connor Barrett: think rich people should be subsidised by poorer taxpayers? That’s reason for a means test.
By all means question the threshold but if you are saying a millionaire should automatically qualify then I disagree.
The war is confined to a small part of the country now. You would imagine many of those that came here would be able to return.
@Munster1: Emphasis on for now. Things can change drastically not to mention many of these Ukrainians have not just lost their homes and family members, but their entire towns and cities too.
@Munster1: I think you can thank your lucky stars that you live in Ireland. What a dreadful comment. You have no idea of the horrors nor of the current and future situation of the country . Ukraine is a war zone, all of it currently. Perhaps you should devote some of your free time to helping the Irish disadvantaged and or the Ukrainian refugees. And yes, many of them want nothing more than to return to their homeland
@Dave Phelan: have you been there, have you witnessed first hand these so called atrocities, no, you sit at home in front of your PC and type idiotic statements. find some real information from real people, on the front line, and watch ho most of the cities are in fact, as everyday normal. what has happened to the people of ireland, now we just watch as our leader propose to be the “good boys ” of europe, while they neglect the needs of everyone in this country, unless you are rich of course and there is something in it for them.
@Darren Murphy: They were voted in because they were well able to ignore the needs of others. That happened long beforehand and it’s on us.
While family carers are means tested for carers allowance and have to fight for medical cards
@Úna O Connor Barrett: Absolutely true Una
In the first instance for many people reading this the initial gut response will probably be…
What about the homeless in Ireland? And why isnt the government funding support for them?
To put this in context the total of Public Expenditure on Homeless Service Provision in the Dublin Region in 2021 was €148,142,145 million.
So its not a case of help being made available for Ukrainian refugees, that has not been available to homeless people in Ireland or that this will somehow take funding away from currently homeless people, its two separate issues and both are being addressed.
The reason for continuing homelessness in ireland is not a lack of funding, its a lack of successive governments willingness, to build permanent social housing to replace current temporary accommodation.
@David Van-Standen: stop talking sense… It’s not appreciated on the journal..
@David Van-Standen: What I can’t fathom is why on earth any TD can’t simply make the call and build permanent housing with EU help. They could then be used later for social housing. All these subsidies are going to hotels while tourists can’t get to or from the airport.
@Aileen Lawlor: They will house whoever is next on the list freeing up emergency shelter for the next people.
Hotels cancelling reservations left, right, and centre because they’re getting 4 grand a week per room off the government to house Ukrainians. Twice in 2 weeks it’s happened at last notice to me, and then you’re paying through the teeth for another hotel.
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: 4 grand a week, €570 a night…. per room. Whichnof your arses did you pull that figure out of?
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: 100%. If a hotel has a stragety getting rack rates from the government it has to show 1st that they exist. The vast majority of hotels would love to go down this route hense medium hotels charging 350/400 per night when they were 140 average. They cant get staff so managing 50 rooms at 400 is better than 100 rooms at 140. And again no words from the IHF & Bord Failte. Very very quite.
What’s the Government’s fixation with the City West Hotel, first of all they block booked it as a Covid 19 Base, and now they are going to do the same for the Refugees. Who owns this place, and was these transactions done through Open Procurement, or could there be some Brown Envelopes involved.
@Owen G Mc Ginley: a quick Linkedin search shows the Chairman of Tetrarch who own the Citywest to be Paul Donnolly who is currently also a Senior Advisor to Digicel and was previously a non-exec board member of Digicel… never too far from Denis O’Brien in this country.
@Owen G Mc Ginley: It’s the largest hotel in Ireland, nearly 800 rooms, 2 convention centres and a leisure centre. That’s not including the golf hotel
@Owen G Mc Ginley: not whitstanding the other points made above its also extremely accessible from a transport point of view being only minutes from the M50/N7. No matter what the Govt do you can be guaranteed someone is making a tidy wedge from it.
@Owen G Mc Ginley: , down to all the political contacts made by Jim Mansfield over the years, starting with Liam Lawor, there still there
Current Government remind me of the FF/Green Government towards the end of 2020, a total shambles. Minsters have no control of their departments and the recent fiasco in Dublin Airport, to name one of many, proves this point. A General Election is badly needed as soon as possible.
While family carers are means tested for carers allowance and have to fight for medical cards.
@Úna O Connor Barrett: Yawn
And yet 10 000 irish residents are homeless. I completely agree with helping Ukraine, but look after people who reside in the country first. You cant bring in people into the country in order to inflate this figure next year. 10 000 homeless people, 10 000!!!
Money is the currency of power for this government. They love to have large scale expenditures that they use to curry favour for individual party members or for the party themselves. No money going out equals no votes, favours and LBE’s coming back in. They also don’t care, as can be plainly seen here for years and years, on whether they get value for that money spent, that is besides the point. Or to put it simply, CORRUPTION – alive and well for 50+ years and we just watch it slowly destroy the place.
While family carers are means tested for carers allowance and have to fight for medical cards
@Úna O Connor Barrett: One more time.. that will be 5.
Which government minister, TD or senior civil servant owns, part owns or has a financial interest in the Citywest…..in other words who’s pockets are they lining now
They think the war will Last Two years …???? As soon as things are right in Ukraine They should go back…and let the government sort out the homeless problem for a change
Move refugees out of Greater Dublin Area as use the rest of the country that has excess capacity.
Wow bought just before Covid for peanuts, two handy contracts from state that covers that cost more than once. Lucky deal or just lucky
So what happens if there is another scandemic and they need the hotel again for covid ?
@Ken Bramley: Dafuq is a scandemic? Braindead comment!
It’s a disgrace we need to deal with irelands own homeless I can wait till the next genral election fffg are f##ked
A good decision
Considering? This has been known the last 3 months, not Considering, done.
For god sake people of ireland stand up 10000 on the street family’s struggling children going hungry and the government look the other way I’m all for helping any one who needs help these people have been trough hell but many irish have been in hell for a long time bring on the election
Will they get free use of the golf course ?
Is the darts cancelled so?
have your say