John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The lack of a comprehensive communication plan is fanning the flames of hate and resentment being led by right-wing people exploiting the vacuum that the Minister of State and the Government have created because it is not putting out the accurate information. We see an analysis was carried out by Sky News on foot of a recent protest. A total of 56% of the online content originated in the US, 20% in Ireland and 10% in Britain. There was no strategy there from the Department and the Government to counter that. Public representatives such as me are being lied to and have been lied to by the Department regarding the provision of accommodation where bulldozers were on the site in my constituency stripping back topsoil and putting down hardcore and members of the community and I were being told no decision had been taken on that specific site. I have a role. I want to play a role in bringing communities with us, but when that information is not there and there is no comprehensive communication strategy with communities or public representatives, it makes my job very difficult if not impossible-----

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