Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not believe we are far apart. It is a matter of language and language is important. As I must follow the legal advice I have received on this issue, I must oppose the amendment proposed by Deputy Clare Daly, perhaps with some regret, but that is what I must do. When I receive legal advice, it would be rash and foolish of me to defy or counter it.

I know the views of Deputies Burton and Brendan Ryan on Fingal County Council being conflicted, as we have heard them several times previously. Deputy Broughan has raised the issue again, but that battle has been fought. Deputies can raise it as often as they wish and it is probably raised with a genuine worry about any competent authority, but when they say Fingal County Council is conflicted, I remind them that the IAA was found to be conflicted. The same arbiter on this issue found that Fingal County Council was not conflicted. That is the legal advice we received and we took it. When the advice came through about the IAA, we took it very reluctantly and with a heavy heart because it was a commitment which we had believed was solid.

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