Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has said the request for a meeting was not brought to his attention. The meeting was requested on 13 September. I telephoned the Minister's diary secretary and asked that the importance of offering this meeting be stressed. I was in continuous contact with the Minister's office. When I received a letter refusing a meeting, I wrote to the Taoiseach and telephoned his secretary a number of times to explain the importance of this issue. I mentioned the request for a meeting on the floor of the House on the Order of Business with the Taoiseach. The Minister is telling me that after all of that, nobody at any stage told him a senior politician, the chairperson of the education committee in Northern Ireland, was seeking a meeting with him. He needs to put a better system in place in his office. Can he tell me what he will do to ensure the next time an elected politician in Northern Ireland requests a meeting with him his staff inform him? I do not blame the staff because they obviously act on the Minister's instructions.

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