Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and committee members for the invitation to today's meeting and for giving me the opportunity to come in to discuss this issue. Before I start, I wish to do some housekeeping in relation to the arrangement of this meeting. As the Chairman knows, I have very strong and ongoing communication with this committee on all issues and I very much value our relationship. Given the importance of this issue, I was conscious of the fact that it was important the committee was fully aware of where it was at and how it was evolving. Obviously, a key date in relation to the process and the challenge we face was the publication of the data on water quality between 2021 and 2022 on 30 June. As soon as the data were published, I wrote to the committee to indicate that this had happened and also to indicate, given the importance of this committee, that I would like to make sure it was fully briefed in relation to where we now stood and the challenge ahead. The map was published on 30 June and my officials, at my instigation, met with the committee to brief it fully on 5 July. The committee then requested on 26 July, after the Dáil term and committee sessions had finished, that I would attend the committee, which of course, I always do. The committee communicated with my office and offered two dates, namely 20 September and 4 October. After further engagement between the committee and my office, it was clarified that 20 September was during the National Ploughing Championships, which I and most committee members would be attending, and that 4 October was the only one of the two dates offered by the committee that was viable. My office communicated my provisional acceptance of that date, at the committee's request. The reason I am touching on this as a matter of housekeeping is that comments were made in public which are not accurate and which are misleading in relation to that representation. Senator Lombard criticised me publicly for the fact that I would not be meeting the committee until 4 October. The simple fact of the matter is that I had responded to the committee's two dates-----