Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

The Minister must be very clear on this. He should check the record of the committee meeting yesterday. The county and city managers are on record as having an entirely different interpretation, which is in section 3.1 of a letter sent to them by the Minister. The Minister's words are in black and white and state that they cannot spend this money. The Minister is saying this afternoon that they can. He must issue a statement. He is a fair man for going out onto the plinth to make a comment when it suits him. He needs to go there this afternoon and clarify this.

See this speech in context