Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

That is the point. We know, as a result of our experience in Cork, that the meetings which are held in the Poolbeg area, at which certain public representatives shed crocodile tears with the residents, do not really matter a damn at the end of the day. We won the argument when the oral hearing took place at An Bord Pleanála level. I was not at the hearing but I know many people who were, including many Green Party members and one or two Fianna Fáil people. We won the argument but we lost the battle. The decision ultimately taken by An Bord Pleanála in the Ringaskiddy case was dictated by ministerial policy-making at national level, and the same thing will happen in the Poolbeg case.

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