Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is a very important issue. The reason I say it is that if we listen to the farmers, Birdwatch Ireland, the Peatlands Council and the people who come into the Houses and who deal with the environment every day - the actual biodiversity environment - they are not getting a fair chance within this structure in that they have the third part of a Department. At the same time, I suggest that arts and culture need far more emphasis. I am not suggesting that one is greater than the other but that these are so enormous - they are cities and universes in themselves - especially in regard to biodiversity, the environment and its preservation.

As a Senator, I want to know what should I do, or what could we do, to even suggest that those Departments would be separate. At one stage, arts was on its own, then it was in with sport and it is now in with the environment. They are too important-----