Motion 176. This Ard Fheis records its alarm at the spiralling emigration taking place across the 32 Counties. We recognise the particularly devastating effects of emigration upon rural communities on the island.
We consider this to be a national emergency. At present over 1,000 Irish citizens leave the Six Counties and 26 Counties every week, many of them young single people and young families.
This Ard Fheis calls upon Sinn Féin ministers in the Northern Executive and Sinn Féin TDs in the Dáil to ensure that the North/South Ministerial Council and the Irish Government address as an absolute priority the current emigration crisis and through it seek the formulation of an all-island cross-departmental strategy to intervene in this worsening situation in our country.
Kevin Lynch Cumann
Park/Craigbane, Co Derry
East Cork Comhairle Ceantair
Omagh Comhairle Ceantair

Motion 175. This Ard Fheis agrees that turf cutting is a cultural activity as well as an economic activity. An outright ban on turf cutting in certain state-chosen bogs is not a solution to habitat management in of itself and that many of these bogs are rich in biodiversity is due to the small-scale cutting and careful stewarding of the land by those who have been cutting turf on these bogs during their own lifetime and generations before this.
We are concerned that as fuel price continue to soar, one of the cheapest sources available to the ordinary person is being restricted while the 26-county state’s own vast peat resources continue to be over-exploited. This is another attack on rural Ireland.
Gortaglanna Martyrs
North Kerry

Motion 174. This Ard Fheis, recognising the potential for job creation, will actively campaign for the restoration of our sugar beet industry and seek to acquire funds from the EU to help finance this endeavour.
Galway West Comhairle Ceantair