Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will revert to Deputy Connolly on the issue of the action plan. I have not yet seen a draft, which leads me to believe that the plan may not be as advanced as it should be. I usually see drafts a couple of weeks or months before a document is published or goes to Cabinet. I will raise the matter with the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh, when I see him tomorrow.

I am encouraged by the growth of Irish language education, including the increasing numbers of Gaelscoileanna and also Gaelcholáiste. My constituency will soon have its first ever Gaelcholáiste, which is now under construction. This is a positive development. We also have Bliain na Gaeilge. Overall, the number of people speaking Irish daily outside education is not increasing and is probably falling, which is a matter of real concern.

What struck me recently during my visit to the Choctaw Indians as part of my visit to America during St. Patrick's day is that their language is almost gone now. There are only 50 or 60 native speakers left. I met an older woman who will probably be one of the last native speakers of Choctaw. We all know the phrase, "Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam" or "A country without a language is a country without a soul." It hit me during my visit how important it is to hold on to the unique aspects of one's culture and identify. I visited Louisiana recently on my second trip to New Orleans. I visited the state as a student and made a return trip briefly over Easter. I remember 20 years ago that people spoke French parts of Louisiana. That is not really the case any longer because they have been overwhelmed by English. I am sure French is spoken in certain parts but not in the way it was, even in my lifetime. What really strikes a person is how important it is not to allow that to happen to our language. I will follow up on the action plan.

I only heard this morning about the decision by Apple not to proceed with a data centre in Athenry. While it is a highly regrettable decision, it is not surprising given the inordinate delays in the process and the fact that the company has since built data centres in Denmark instead. I guess Apple does not need the Athenry project any longer. However, that does not mean another company will not use the site. We will certainly have discussions with Apple about the possibility of selling the site to another company that might use it as a data centre in future. The decision is a major blow to Athenry and the west in general. The biggest single public investment in the west in recent years was the Gort to Tuam motorway, which cost the best part of €500 million. The proposed data centre was to be the biggest private sector investment and it is highly regrettable that the project will not proceed.

I would not like anyone to think the delays in Athenry are typical. There are data centres all over the country. Google and Amazon have data centres in Clare, west Dublin and south Dublin and those projects did not get stuck in inordinate planning delays. It would not be correct for us or people outside the country to believe that what happened in Athenry is typical as it is not. There are definitely steps we can take to ensure this does not happen again. We have already made the decision to make data centres part of strategic infrastructure to enable them to go through fast-track planning and straight to An Bord Pleanála. As Galway County Council rightly pointed out to me, it was not the cause of delays. The proposal moved through the council planning process and An Bord Pleanála quite quickly but got stuck in the courts. It seem to be too easy to commence a judicial review. I am not sure if Senator McDowell will agree with me but it seems to be terribly easy to secure a judicial review and subsequently follow up with further appeals. Mr. Justice Peter Kelly is heading up a working group to determine whether we can find solutions to that. We have a solution on the planning side and we are seeking a solution on the court side.

To respond to Deputy Ó Caoláin's comments on committee reports, I will follow up after the meeting if Minister's are not producing, within three months, reasoned line-by-line responses to recommendations made in committee reports rather than letters thanking the relevant Chairman and committee members for producing their report. I would be disturbed if that was not happening. The Minister must indicate what the Department is doing, what it will do and what recommendations it has accepted or not accepted. He or she must set out the reasons in each case and if it is not happening, it should be happening. I will definitely follow up on this matter if such responses are not issuing. That is what is supposed to happen and was happening for a while. It is not that hard to do. A response cannot be expected overnight but is reasonable to expect a reasoned response within three months.

We can also follow up on the issue of agencies replying to correspondence. Again, while an agency may not be able to reply to a committee Chairman or members immediately, particularly if the issue is complicated, one would expect an agency to issue a proper response within six weeks. I assume that is not happening.