Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to respond as specifically as I can. It is a bit difficult to judge, just on the basis of the Deputy's word, how big an emergency this is. While I do not doubt him for a second, I cannot compare it with Donegal without having first-hand experience of that to which he is referring. However, I know it has been a problem for a long period and may have been exacerbated in recent times.

I apologise to the Deputy if he took the inference about this being a new interest in the wrong way. I know he has been interested in the matter for a long time. It is simply that it is the first time since I got this portfolio that I have come across his interest in it. It is new to me, even if it is not, obviously, new to him.

See this speech in context