John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

To be clear, the European Commission is currently in correspondence in respect of 25 cases in regard to transposition and implementation of EU environmental legislation where the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is concerned. This compares with 33 cases when I came into office.

To answer the Deputy's question, there is probably a major difference between having a Green Minister and having a potential Labour Party Minister. While I am not sure Deputy Tuffy is aware of it, I was genuinely shocked by the press release put out by the Labour Party leader in regard to the EU habitats directive. When I am trying to deal with this very sensitive issue, the Deputy's party leader comes out with populist and opportunistic nonsense such as:

Rural Ireland is already struggling economically and Government cutbacks are badly affecting such services... Preventing rural families from continuing centuries old tradition of turf-cutting flies in the face of reason.

This is populist nonsense from the Labour Party when I am trying to deal with a very sensitive issue. There is a big difference between having a Green Minister and a potential Labour Party Minister who will simply fly in the face of reason and overturn very important EU directives.

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