Vol. 514 No. 1
202 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the reason she has not given a substantive reply or an acknowledgement to correspondence (details supplied) of November 1999 and January 2000 with respect to the Wicklow national park; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3756/00]
I hope the Deputy will appreciate that a large volume of representations are received in my office annually and that every effort is made to issue replies as promptly as possible. A reply has now been forwarded to the Deputy. The standard practice is for acknowledgments to issue, but I regret that this practice was not followed in this particular case.
203 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the situation with respect to the establishment of the Wicklow national park uplands council; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3757/00]
The establishment of the Wicklow Mountains national park council which will be independent of my Department is awaiting the successful conclusion of the nominations process by the Convention convened for that purpose. I understand that some debate has arisen in relation to the procedures followed for the nominations for one of the council panels and I have asked the former Ombudsman, Mr Michael Mills, to offer some independent advice on how best to resolve the situation. I hope that a final list of nominees will be submitted to me in due course and I shall then formally appoint the members of the council.
