Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

The fact that Members on the Opposition benches do not acknowledge it is something I cannot do anything about. Deputy Cowley can make all sorts of allegations inside and outside the House but I have a statutory function over the consents and statutory duties to discharge as a Minister, which I have done. I have gone beyond that to try to meet people's concerns. There was no need for me to engage the services of a mediator or to listen to one. I did not need to commission a safety review as I was satisfied with the safety position from my reading of the files.

I listened to people, some of whom were reasonable while others, I have since discovered, were far from reasonable, of which fact we all have evidence. I tried to meet people's concerns through the safety review and the mediation process. The people who do not want to hear do not hear. The people who now talk about compromising and coming up with a brilliant new solution to the problem are the same people who previously rejected every effort to meet their concerns. The Deputy talks about reports but I am not greatly impressed by the report from CPI on the matter, or on any other matter it investigated.

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