Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)

I wish to return to some of the comments made by Deputies on the Government side of the House about taking this issue seriously. Deputy Brian Stanley has outlined Sinn Féin's position. We take this matter seriously and are absolutely committed to ensuring the protection of waterways, etc. However, we have serious concerns about the legislation in terms of its ambiguity, particularly in respect of the standards that are to apply. We do not know what will be the nature of these standards. The legislation will be passed tomorrow and the relevant people will then try to figure out what it involves.

A comment was made about these public meetings that I attended, along with Deputies Healy Rae, McGrath, Collins and many others around the country, and that we were scaremongering and putting out misinformation. At any meeting I attended and at any meeting organised by Sinn Féin, all we did was deal with the legislation and its implications.

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