Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

That is a reasonable period for the Government to formulate its position on this. When it is doing so - the Minister of State will agree with me about this - it needs to think about the people who have been affected, including the businesses, farmers, homeowners, elderly people who are frightened and the people who are up at night wondering whether they will be flooded. At the end of the day, they are the citizens of this country and the ESB is a big, powerful organisation. These people, as far as I am concerned, have as much influence as the ESB and their voices have to be heard as loudly as that of the ESB.

I commend Senators Rabbitte and Paul Daly on the work they have done on this.