Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 26 March 2015
Public Accounts Committee
2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Dublin Docklands Development Authority: Annual Report and Financial Statements
10:00 am
Mr. John Crawley:
I will consult my notes. The final sign-off of the deal was in January of this year. October 2013, when the negotiations were concluded, was a particularly busy time for the authority. It was in the middle of dealing with many other transactions. It did not at that particular point close out all the paperwork relating to the transaction immediately. Why? It was because we had competing priorities and the other issues to which I referred needed to be bottomed out. We understood at the time that there were potentially other stakeholders who might be concerned about this because the new SDZ planning scheme was being put in place. Therefore, the new planning regime which was to operate in that area re-thought the strategy for that particular area in Hanover Quay. The SDZ planning scheme encourages and welcomes the continued presence of that area which is considered to be a cultural-heritage part of the area. We allowed a pause period of some time in the event that someone would want to raise any issues on it. Subsequently, we closed the transaction in January of this year.
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