Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister was given ten days notice of the meeting time by the committee. Ten days is a considerable amount of time. The committee only found out last Friday that the Minister would not be attending. It is a major disappointment when a committee extends an invitation to a Minister and he or she does not attend. It is the job of the committee to hold a particular Minister to account. It leads to transparency into the administration of that Minister if the Minister is open with the committee. That is good governance and, as such, it is a central element to the committee that we would have the right to discuss what has happened to the Irish language over the past number of years. This also concerns the partnership issues. This does not apply to west Cork alone. West Cork has had a particularly unusual experience recently and there are many questions to be answered. I know there are many questions to be answered with regard to the contracts that have been won by a partnership in Meath in recent times also. We just want to get to the heart of how money is spent by the Government on behalf of citizens. We need to be able to ask the questions on behalf of the citizens that elect us. I suggest that we send a letter to the Minister outlining our disappointment that she did not attended today, offering her another opportunity to come and discuss these vital issues and asking her to name a date within the next fortnight for that to happen. Before we agree that, however, I will call on Seanadóir Hopkins.