Vol. 495 No. 1
91 Mr. McDowell asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the plans, if any, he has to keep the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government fully briefed and to be kept informed of the committee's views on Ireland's position at international negotiating conferences or environmental matters as is the practice in other EU member states. [19283/98]
The Secretary General and other senior officers of my Department recently met the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government and are available to brief the committee, as required on an ongoing basis. Such meetings provide the appropriate context in which to inform the committee of national and international developments in areas for which I am responsible and to address matters raised by the committee itself. A report was also submitted to the committee in respect of the ministerial conference on the environment for Europe process held in Aarhus in June 1998. I am satisfied that current arrangements work well and I am not aware that the committee is uninformed on any matters which are of concern to it.
