Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I find the response of the Minister to be really disappointing. The Minister, in this Oireachtas, has railed against the Judiciary and described appointments to it as not being appropriate, yet he is now talking about a regulatory situation where the regulator, appointed and selected by the Minister, is absolutely mired in conflicts of interest. It is responsible for planning and for being the local authority partner of a major airport, which is of enormous significance to the economy and of the country. The Minister has railed against everybody on the matter of judicial appointments, but he is now proposing something similar for the noise regulator. This is something that is really important in people's lives, and important to the life of the airport, which is important economically to the whole country. The level of conflict of interest is unbelievable, and he has not explained to us why the letter was not released. He sat on it while all of the discussions were taking place. If any of this had happened in a judicial context we would not hear the end of it, because the Minister would rail and roar and shout against it.

The Minister is famous for his forthrightness. Most public servants in his previous books were wasters. That was the title of one of his books relating to the public service. The Minister is someone who has sought out areas where he has taken the view that wrong decisions were made with regard to public services. Now, we are pointing out to the Minister in a reasonable way on behalf of residents in the area that there are major unsustainable conflicts of interest, but he has simply decided to ignore them. Alternatives have been put forward by the Labour Party and other parties. They are before the House in the form of amendments. For someone who has gone on about justice in Ireland, I simply cannot understand the approach of the Minister.

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