Mr. Frank Daly:

We have engaged on this matter previously with the Deputy. We are not in a position to dictate to companies on the people they should employ, etc. However, we would be supportive of the model used for the DIT project in terms of the Grangegorman employment charter. In so far as we can support the use of similar charters and influence that type of approach, we are open to doing so. In the model in question the Grangegorman Development Agency is responsible for overseeing and monitoring matters. The corresponding body for the docklands is Dublin City Council. I understand the council is examining the possibility of using the Grangegorman employment charter model within the SDZ. While we would be supportive of this, we are very conscious of the social dimension of our work. However, I am ultimately continually obliged to remind people that under the Act our primary remit is commercial in nature.

It is to get the best financial return we can for the State which, as I said before, is in itself an indirect social dividend. Other things we can do and which we have been doing involve engaging with Departments and other public bodies on their requirements in any development we are undertaking, be it in the SDZ or elsewhere. Again, we are open to doing this in the SDZ and engaging with the Department of Education and Skills, for example, on schools. We have had some dealings with some cultural bodies in the docklands in relation to the docklands preservation society and its need for a premises. We are positively disposed to this, but we cannot sit down and dictate to a joint venture partner that it must do this or that. At the end of the day we have to be sure we will get the best commercial return.