Mr. Cormac Ó Donnchú:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis an gcoiste ar fad. Is cúis iontach dóchais é iad a chloisteáil inniu. Tá sé iontach a bheith anseo san Oireachtas chun an t-ábhar sin a phlé. We are absolutely delighted that the committee has decided to accept the invitation to come and join us on site. It is an opportunity for us to explain why referring to Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Na Fianna as a sports club does it a disservice. We see ourselves as a very strong, vibrant and unique urban Gaelic community. Our reach and community impact is far greater than just the field of play, although we would like to think much of our reputation comes from there.

There are many lessons to be learned from the public consultation process to which we have been exposed and which we have experienced to date. As a community and voluntary organisation, we find it a little bewildering that the State has spent more than €180 million on a project to date and that, despite that level of funding, it fell upon us as a community volunteer organisation to inform our nearest neighbours and educational institutions of the plans. We also find it somewhat bewildering that we had less than 48 hours notice before the public announcement was made when, as a community organisation, we are likely to receive the most discomfort or discommoding from the transport infrastructure project. Again we will emphasise what all of the groups here have said; we are supportive of improvements to our public transport infrastructure and think it is important to maintain it.

On the wider public consultation process, we hear with interest today that 3,000 people have engaged in the process. To our knowledge, approximately 2,000 of those have been members of our organisation. That would imply that only another 1,000 individual members of the public have engaged in that consultation. We feel that is perhaps an issue which should be of greater concern to this committee and the organisers of the public consultation.

We have heard much about principles of consultation and engagement. Since the beginning of this process we have made three requests. We requested to attend the launch at Conrad Dublin and that request was refused. When we first heard about the public consultation period we asked if it could be extended because it was so brief. That request was refused. As the Cathaoirleach has suggested, we asked that, in light of the fact that we are a voluntary organisation, we be supplied with some resource or assistance in independently assessing the plans which the State presented to us and on which it has spent a budget of €180 million. We were refused. We have been refused all three aspects of the practical support and assistance we have asked for to date. Notwithstanding that, we are still positively disposed to engaging in this process.

On the point Deputy Lahart made in respect of public transport that eggs must be broken in order to make omelettes, we appreciate that our community may suffer some discomfort but we do not believe that this must be progressed at any cost. We do not believe that we should know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Deputy Lahart spoke about community and volunteer organisations and how, when they come into contact with such statutory bodies and large projects, after the first wave of response the enthusiasm and energy of such organisations are quite often broken down. I assure the committee on behalf of our members that Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Na Fianna has faced wave upon wave, indeed a tsunami, of globalisation and other challenges in our existence in north Dublin and our community is ready to face more to ensure that we continue to exist and deliver for the benefit of our people and our community within North Dublin. We will continue to do that whatever it takes. My colleague, Ms Caffrey, has some comments which she would like to add.