Mr. Charlie Murphy:

From way back, many small community groups have got involved in the Grand Canal Basin to try to kick-start it.

I remember breaking into the Grand Canal Basin and squatting there for a few years when nobody wanted to do it. It opened up employment and many training programmes so that idea has always been there pre-DDDA and pre-1997. Things were pushed through there and I know the Irish Nautical Trust is still trying to push things through there.

Looking to the future and the new Bill, I know Dublin Port Company, Waterways Ireland, whatever the new entity will be if it is introduced and Dublin City Council want to work together in the regeneration and re-animation of the basin and river. What one cannot forget is that many of the local communities have got involved in this as well, are passionate about what is there and have a lot of expertise and knowledge that we need to tap into. We have got involved in it. I do not know if we know a lot but the resources that the DDDA had were huge and could do a lot of good things. If I was to go back, I would probably be banging the table looking for a lot more from that than I did at the time but let us not be greedy about it. Everyone talks about the strategic development zone, SDZ, which is a way of fast tracking planning but there is an area that was ring-fenced around docklands in which people are trying to pinpoint the resources. There are a number of organisations in the area - Waterways Ireland, Dublin City Council, ourselves and others.