asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether the Government at any time decided against the erection of the proposed briquette factories in County Offaly, but subsequently decided on representations from an industrial firm that they should be proceeded with.

I have seen a statement to this effect, attributed to a Deputy, in a report published in a local newspaper of a public meeting held at Shannonbridge. The statement is, of course, the reverse of the truth. Far from deciding against the erection of these factories the Government have urged Bord na Móna to expedite their erection, and have approved arrangements, which have now been made, to ensure that the second factory at Derrygreenagh will come into operation six months after the coming into operation of the first factory at Boora. There has not, therefore, been any occasion for representations of the type suggested in the question nor have such representations been made at any time.

Is the Minister aware that at the meeting at Shannonbridge Deputy Oliver Flanagan stated that the present Government did their damnedest to stop the establishment of these factories and that were it not for the fact that Messrs. Arthur Guinness & Co. brought pressure to bear on the Government, none of these factories would be erected? Were there any grounds for such statements?

I have already said that these statements are the reverse of the truth.

The fact is that the previous Government's decision has been honoured.

Nobody knows that better than Deputy Egan.