Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo the observations of Senator Cullinane. We have a parliamentary democracy and citizens have serious concerns about what is happening to our environment but we have a serious non-response from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government which does not want to be called to account. I am so proud to be a member of this Oireachtas. We will leave office shortly and have an election and while we stanched the flow of money out of the banking system, for which huge credit is due to the Government, we have not reformed the permanent government. It will make the same mistakes again in banking and finance and the answer we have just received illustrates how arrogant it has become towards the elected representatives of this Parliament. It will be a task for the next Government to sort it out. This is a blatant disregard for Senators elected to this House to represent our constituents. We are concerned about something which we know has been sitting in the Department since 2010 but the Department is looking to delay it further. The Department does not want to be responsible to the Oireachtas, which is a shameful approach for any public servant to take towards democracy in this country.