Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am not here to play the man either; I am here to play the ball. This is about the ball, which is the greyhound industry. Let me quote Mr. Meaney, who said, "If the only problem is communication, we will solve it quickly." I want to take that remark in the good faith it was made. What happened in the past has happened. There was a request from the federation for a meeting with the board in the past couple of months but that did not happen. It can be dressed up whatever way one likes. I am not going into that. What I would like to do is to look towards tomorrow or next week. I am requesting that the board, as an entity, meet the federation. I do not like the attempted effort to belittle the federation at today's meeting. The federation is the umbrella body for GOBA and represents those who have affiliated. I come from the cycling town of Carrick-on-Suir, where we had two cycling organisations going back to the Civil War. There will always be splinter groups and organisations that will peel away. This is the national recognised body with nominating rights to the Seanad, which demonstrates its bona fides. It is the organisation that I request Mr. Meaney to meet. I hope he will respond in the affirmative.

I have a question on Harold's Cross greyhound stadium, which I address to the chief executive, Ms Geraldine Larkin. According to Indecon, she was supposed to put in place a process, which I am sure she has, to look at the rezoning of Harold's Cross. Obviously, the value of it is based on it being rezoned. At present, it is zoned for amenities only. Could Ms Larkin give us a progress report on the proposed rezoning of the property? Without rezoning, it will not realise its sales potential of €10 million. At present, it is probably worth €2 million, which the Minister acknowledged.