Mr. John Sydenham:

One of the key issues is that the Mount Congreve gardens are currently held in trust by three trustees, of which the State is one. The Congreve Foundation holds two seats of the trusteeship and operates the gardens. What is at issue is the cost of operating the gardens. The trust scheme goes back to the legacy of the late Ambrose Congreve, who received substantial tax benefits from the State and in return he was to provide funds to maintain and operate the gardens for the currency of the trust. The gardens will remain in trust for 20 years before they ultimately come to the State. The Attorney General advised there must be further examination of how this operates. This created a new set of issues for us. To answer the question as to why there has been an inordinate delay, it has been because of the legal position, specifically provision of a fund to maintain and manage the gardens into the further currency of the trust. This has created issues and proceedings have been launched before the courts by the State. On the positive side, we are working our way through these but they are highly complicated. We must abide by the decision and advice of the Attorney General. As I mentioned earlier, the fact the local authority is involved in negotiations means we are hopeful we can progress this. We must have due regard to the legal advice we receive from the State's legal adviser.