Mr. John Monahan:

I have at times. I put my name forward because I had been involved in that area for approximately 40 years. I lived first on Cabra Road and then on the North Circular Road. I was always convinced that the powers that be, including the city council, were not particularly interested in the project. I got an opportunity to become a member of the board several years ago and I jumped at it. One would not normally expect an accountant to be a protestor but I led marches down the North Circular Road and I had great fun contacting a radio programme to announce that we would be blocking that road. We continued the protest for six weeks in order to get people to listen to us.

This is an opportunity to revitalise the area. People have seen this project stop and start many times and they do not yet believe it will happen. My biggest challenge is to attend business meetings and local committees. I was in Smithfield last week and was somewhat disappointed to find that the business community did not believe the project would proceed. My job is to convince people it has to happen. They are the only people in this country to get a project of this size on their doorsteps but they need to plan for it. Smithfield is a wonderful facility but it is under utilised.

DIT currently operates from 38 sites. If it wants to send the message that it is a successful third level education provider it needs to be on one site to provide value in the courses it offers. It will enhance the reputation of DIT and the students who attend it. If we cannot employ people in Ireland, at least we owe them the right to be educated properly to go abroad.