Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thought so but I will have to check that. There have been meetings with the various social partners in various guises at different times but not all together. There have been a number of meetings. The last one with the business and employer pillar was on 19 July. The one with the trade union pillar was on 16 July. The one with the farming pillar was on 4 February. I met representatives of the ICMSA on 22 July and I am due to speak at its annual meeting on 29 October. Officials from my Department met representatives of the IFA on 29 July and I am due to meet them on 26 October. I last met the farming pillar as a whole on 27 October 2009. Officials from my Department met the community and voluntary pillar on 23 July - the previous meeting was held on 8 June in regard to the EU 2020 process. I last met representatives of the environmental pillar on 27 October 2009 and, similarly, I last met representatives of the community and voluntary pillar then. Department officials met representatives of the environmental pillar 23 July in regard to the EU 2020 process. The detail deals with one aspect of the Deputy's question.

As I said, the information I have to hand is that action plans have all been submitted. The implementation body will review those over the coming weeks and ascertain what way it can put them into place based on contacts between both sides of industry.

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