Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Okay. One last thing, the stakeholder issue is a theme that comes across in terms of the reviews and I ask the committee to consider that we significantly up the ante on that. We had an arts committee that recommended a stakeholder forum around section 481 a few years ago. Certain participants said they were not participating and then, even though a Minister and a committee was in favour of it, the committee was gone because one or two stakeholders decided they did not want to participate. I seriously recommend that this is just not allowed. If people say they are not participating, they are the ones who should be penalised. How on earth can somebody get public money and then refuse point blank to participate in a stakeholder forum that the elected representatives and the Minister say is going to happen, and they are let away with that? It is beyond belief to me. I ask the committee to consider that point because we need more stakeholder engagement and a proper structured process. Frankly, if stakeholders and beneficiaries of these reliefs are not playing ball, they should be told to take a hike.