Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I heard that Europe has indicated it does not want six bitty plans for Ireland but one national plan. Will much work be involved in joining up the six plans into one national plan? One could say that all that is required is for them to be added together. However, it should not be as simple as that. We are a single island. Could the Minister of State refer to the transition from that method of operating to following the EU advice that we should have one national plan? The view was that the island is too small for so many individual plans.

Could the Minister of State also elaborate on the statutory national consultation process, which he said would take place in late 2015? A reply to a previous parliamentary question indicated it would be held later “this summer”. We have missed the boat somewhat in that regard. Could the Minister of State clarify the position?

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