Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

The Senator is part of the local government system that has put these plans in place. When I was appointed Minister last summer an option put before me was the immediate establishment of the national waste management board. I could have done that but it would have meant a delay of another two or three years during which more reports would be commissioned and more appeals would be made. I decided not to proceed on that basis but to give the issue the political leadership it deserves. The people elected us into Government on that basis.

That is what underpins this strategy. We do not have the time or the luxury to restart these debates. We must deliver a facility to the satisfaction of the people to ensure that their environment, which they cherish as much as I do, is left in the kind of condition they expect for the next generation. That will not be done by talking hogwash in this House or in council chambers throughout the country.