Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I suggest to Senator Marc MacSharry that he telephone Pádraig Flynn to ask him for advice on the roads in Sligo. Perhaps he could provide some useful information, given that he made a fair fist of it in Mayo at the expense of counties such as Donegal. Mayo received millions for roads that went nowhere while counties such as Donegal had potholes filled occasionally.

I call for a debate on an issue I raised at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Donegal at the weekend on the dumping of chemical waste off the coast of Donegal in the 1950s. It was admitted to by the British Government in the 1990s. I have read over some of the Dáil and Seanad debates on the matter in the 1990s, when questions were asked by Members in both Houses, but answers never really came from the British Government as to what chemicals were dumped and what would happen if they started to decompose. I ask that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, or another Minister depending on whose responsibility it is, to come to the House to address the concerns of many people who live along the north-west coast. They are concerned about the potential effects of these chemicals into the future. There has not been any satisfactory explanation of what was dumped and what the potential disaster could be. All that has been admitted is that dumping took place.