Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to be absolutely clear on the nonsense that is being peddled by Deputy Mattie McGrath that somehow we were late. Some member states have yet to submit their plans. The indicative timeline was the end of April and our application was submitted, with the agreement of the Commission, in May. There was some media speculation at the time about the discussions that were ongoing with the Commission and about what the Government was working on. I reject the comments from Deputies Mattie McGrath and Nolan, which were outrageous. They used terms like "betrayal" and "traitors", which is terrible language to use in the Dáil. Everyone in this Dáil is working to one end, which is the welfare of the people of Ireland. Talking about betrayal and throwing the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill into the bin is just wrong. It is disturbing and reflects very badly on the Deputies. It does no service to their constituents who will benefit hugely from the just transition fund, for example, and the focus on this at European level. We must work even harder on that to make sure it happens and I am confident that it will.

On the specific questions posed by Deputy Harkin, I will revert to her directly once I have spoken to the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform and Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputies Michael McGrath and McConalogue. The former has responsibility for the recovery fund while the latter deals with issues pertaining to agriculture. There are Departments other than the Department of Foreign Affairs involved here.

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