Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a small island and I am on the record as having expressed my own reservations about this industry. It is also important to point out that this work was initiated in 2011 by the previous Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, who wanted to find out what was best practice. There was consultation and the Deputy knows the history. Timeframes were set. I want to highlight a couple of important items. The first stage of the research programme is to conclude by the end of January 2016. It is a significant piece of work on the first phase. The plan was that, with work on the second phase, it would feed into a single report to be presented by July 2016.

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