David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the point made by Deputy Bríd Smith, as I stated privately to the Chair before the meeting started. There is a pattern of behaviour. The Department did not give us the report we needed to do our work on the previous issue we discussed. There was much discussion of members of the climate action committee being able to hold Departments to account, but if Departments are not making themselves available, we cannot do so. In spite of the short notice for the meeting and the fact that, according to the Department, the officials with experience in this area are out of the country, there are many others in the Department who could have appeared to deal with this issue. I do not accept that only a limited number of people in the Department, all of whom happen to be out of the country, have a level of competency on the issue such that they could appear before the committee. If the committee is to work, we need Departments to work with us. There has been a pattern of that not happening recently.