Hundreds of young and not so young farmers in the south east have invested hugely in agriculture by buying land, increasing the cow herd and investing in magnificent buildings for animal welfare. Glanbia, with a Dutch company, Royal A-ware, is investing in a factory to make Cheddar cheese. It has gone through the county council and An Bord Pleanála planning processes but now An Taisce is on its back like a monkey. It is in the High Court for judicial review and is threatening to go to the European court. It will be disastrous for hundreds of young farmers, the farming economy and the economies of the south east if that happens. Can we not do something to stop that frivolous behaviour by An Taisce? The system the farmers are using is best practice. This is simply a case of idealistic people in An Taisce acting the maggot, which is damaging our economy and causing devastation for young farmers.

On the same matter, I find this very serious. An Taisce is completely overstepping the mark. It is trying to dictate a Government agenda. It is also trying to dictate Government policy. Time and again, it has painted farmers as the scapegoats. That is not right. All of us here have spoken about the need for job creation in rural towns and villages. We cannot let this continue. We need strong intervention with An Taisce. Also, there must be collaboration between An Taisce, farmers and Glanbia. What is happening is wrong and I condemn the actions of An Taisce.

This plan to produce 50,000 tonnes of Gouda cheese would greatly reduce our dependence on the British Cheddar cheese market, which is exactly what we want to do post Brexit. It is extremely regrettable from that point of view. Farmers have made many commitments and it is extremely disappointing that An Taisce, following An Bord Pleanála's decision, can get a judicial review and delay this project for many years. That has the potential to make the project economically unviable. It will have huge repercussions for both the company itself and the milk producers supplying Glanbia.

I thank the three Deputies for raising the issue. Deputy Cahill has been speaking to me about this issue on an ongoing basis and articulating his concerns. There is a balance to be struck in terms of objecting to significant facilities. People have rights to object but on the other hand the increasing use of judicial review is something on which we, as a society, will have to reflect. There is an independent planning process. It is rigorous and it should be respected. There is a growing sense that the judicial review is becoming a new mechanism to frustrate and delay projects hoping that they may not develop. That is creating challenges on the investment side and in terms of the creation of jobs. That has to be acknowledged. What the Deputies are saying is problematic. We saw it in forestry in the past while where there were consistent interventions, which were designed to stop any licences from issuing, and we had to deal with that legislatively. There are significant issues as we prepare the national development plan, for example. We have reviewed this. The range of projects, be they infrastructural or production, that are held up now has to be a cause for concern overall.