Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Second, the bottom line of the Bill is simple. Members are unable to find out from the Minister what the standards will be. He makes vague comments about agreements with the European Union, NGOs and so on. Since the beginning of this month I have submitted freedom of information requests to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government seeking details of all discussions the Minister and his departmental officials have had with the European Commission, NGOs and the EPA. I have done this because it would provide me with the information Members cannot glean from the Minister and which would tell them what was actually happening. If the Minister was so anxious for Members to be so informed, he would have instructed his officials immediately to ring my office to indicate it would pass the information to me quickly.

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