Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I ask the Leader to request the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to attend the House and declare once and for all his position with regard to the rehabilitation of abandoned mining sites. Jobs are currently very difficult to create, especially in the west, and two companies are on the point of establishing processes and creating jobs at the old mine in Tynagh, County Galway. While the people currently objecting are not objecting to the creation of new jobs in the area, they are seriously concerned about their livelihoods and the contamination caused by any interference with the old mine. The local authority has neither the resources nor the responsibility to rehabilitate the mine. The EPA will take responsibility only for any new processes involved and the way the work is carried out. The only person who has total responsibility is the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, or the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

This is a very serious matter. It is very peculiar that nobody can have access to the conditions of the original mining licence. The granting of this licence was the greatest ever rip-off and robbery of the nation. That is all over and done with, but we cannot find the owners of the mine, who are thought to be in South Africa. At a time when people's livelihoods in the adjoining farms are at risk, and job creation is also threatened, I ask the Leader to request the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to attend this House and establish an inquiry similar to that established at Silvermines in Nenagh. After 25 years of hassle for everybody involved, we might then get a final resolution of this very serious problem.