Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The heart of this matter is the contempt the DAA is displaying towards local residents. When we asked the question in March, the meeting on 30 March was unilaterally cancelled without any alternative meeting with the community liaison group being put in place. As the Minister correctly stated, in the interim legal proceedings were commenced. Presumably the information had been obtained beforehand, however. Would it not be valid to state that perhaps the residents would not have had to get into costly litigation, which they do not want, if the DAA had consulted them and addressed their concerns in an open and upfront manner? It has failed to do that. I also put it to the Minister that the DAA has ignored him as well. It gave him information which turned out to be invalid.

This information has always been made publicly available. The residents asked for it more than six months ago. That litigation has now started is neither here nor there. I put it to the Minister that it is an indication of how much the DAA is riding roughshod over the interests of local interests, which is not in the interests of anyone, the DAA included. I ask the Minister to go back to the DAA again and ask it to reconsider this.

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