asked the Minister for Finance if he will make a statement with regard to the visit by the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works to the West Limerick Dáil constituency together with Office of Public Works personnel, giving details of (a) the names of such personnel and the positions held by them in the Office of Public Works; (b) the places where meetings were held to meet local farmers and how these meetings were arranged and by whom; (c) the names of public representatives who were present at each of these meetings and/or who accompanied her on her visit and (d) the reason no Fianna Fáil public representative was made aware of the visit.
Written Answers. - Visit by Minister of State.
115.
The Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works visited the Maigue catchment area in the Limerick West constituency in July 1986, where she took the opportunity to meet with local landowners. In addition to a meeting in Kilmallock, the Minister of State stopped at a number of locations along the route, where she spoke to various groups of landowners. Among the locations visited were: Mountblakeney, Bruree Bridge, Cregane Bridge, Drewscourt West, Ballyagran, Ardpatrick, Garryspillane, Ballinvreena and Ballysculla Bridge, Martinstown.
The Minister of State was accompanied by the relevant drainage officials from the Office of Public Works. It has not been the convention in Dáil Éireann to give details of civil servants involved in any particular area of the State's responsibility and I do not propose to depart from this practice in this instance.
The trip was made at the request of the local Fine Gael public representatives who were acting in their capacity as public representatives in the area. No such request was received by the Minister of State from any Fianna Fáil representative, and accordingly, none were invited or required to attend.