Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

There is no question of the Minister not being fully aware of her responsibility in this matter. However, she requires the co-operation of principals to implement and effect the system. Let us face facts. Some of our difficulties in this area were caused by decisions and applications that were made at local level in the past. The Minister has to put a system in place and bring all aspects together. That is what any Minister would do. I have no doubt that if the Minister did not do that, the Opposition's new gun on the Committee of Public Accounts would be very quick to deploy his weaponry against the Minister. The Minister would be in default in not having a proper, public transparent system in operation for the allocation of these important resources.

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