Senator Martin Conway seems to have drifted into County Limerick. He might be best to get on the ferry in Tarbert and head back to County Clare.

I join colleagues in the tributes paid yesterday and today to former Senator Jimmy Harte. What happened to him was tragic and unfortunate and we wish him the best. It is not long since he, Senator John Crown and I were in Gdansk and Poznan in Poland at the time of the European Championships. It is a pity to see what has happened and we wish him the very best.

I congratulate and wish the very best of luck to Ms Glenna Lynch and Mr. Cian O'Callaghan in their election campaigns, the newest members of the Social Democrats, who declared this morning.

There have been many announcements this week and it seems that the place to be for good news announcements is the ploughing championships at Ratheniska. Yesterday there was a tremendous commitment made to rural Ireland. It makes me laugh when I see the Government's mealy-mouthed commitment. This is its final year in office and it has decided to announce a €30 million rural regeneration scheme to be introduced over five years, which is €6 million per year. If one divides that by the number of parishes in Ireland, there is approximately €2,000 per parish on offer. What kind of regeneration will that bring? When one travels throughout the country, one can see that rural Ireland is fighting on its back in an effort to remain vibrant and thriving and to survive. This kind of mealy-mouthed commitment does nothing to stem the tide of people leaving rural Ireland. This highlights the Government's commitment to rural affairs and rural issues.

Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?

Yes. I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence and will talk to him on another date about speaking time.

There is a conflict between the Departments of Environment, Community and Local Government and Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in respect of wind energy. The Government seems to want to destroy the country with wind farms and wind technology that is obsolete. The latter are a stain on our landscape, which is the only thing we have in rural Ireland. In the area of County Limerick in which I live, we are trying to develop a tourist structure around rural Ireland. There is a drive to cover the country in wind farms without examining the possibility of converting existing energy stations to burn renewables such miscanthus, etc.

The Senator is way over time.

There is a need for an urgent debate on our 2020 targets and environmental matters.