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Dáil
‹ Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - Environmental Research Unit.

ERU premises and information access

Summary

The Minister expected the ERU to use St. Martin’s House in the short term and supported making stored environmental information available to the unit and the public, potentially for a charge.

St. Martin's House is the existing location for An Foras Forbartha and without going too far, I think it would be necessary in the short-term that the location for the ERU, or at least part of that establishment, would be there. That is what I would expect. I sincerely hope that they will have access to the environmental information that will be required by outside bodies. I am not saying that the ERU are not going to charge for their services. I think there is some scope there. In my discussions with the unions about the possibility of consultancy work, they were very forthcoming that there was great scope for making money by the officers for the expertise that will lie within the ERU. They would like to maximise that and, in fact, they will be proposing more expanded arrangements for making money that will be to the advantage of the ERU, the unions and to all concerned.

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Will the actual information that is available remain available to the public, perhaps at a charge?

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Do you mean what is stored in the computers?

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Yes.

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I am particularly anxious that the facility of the computer and all matters stored in the computer will be available to the ERU and to the public, even at a charge.

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