Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for intervening effectively to resolve this dispute. It is an indictment of the entire system when it takes an intervention by the Minister to resolve it, for which I commend him. People who have the trust of the Government and elected representatives should live up to and honour that trust, not be in the situation where we read headlines in the papers about what is happening, where the livelihoods of 400 plus people were in jeopardy because of ego, or for whatever reason this could not be resolved. From what I have been told about this and what I have read about it, the intervention is timely in so far as this could have ended up in the courts. It would have been highly embarrassing from a European perspective, especially in the EU maritime section. It would have been highly embarrassing for our situation here. I again thank the Minister for intervening and commend him on it.

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