Ms Bernie Caffrey:

This is a brilliant opportunity for the committee to hear the passion which Na Fianna feels about the impact of this project. That passion is shared by all of our community representatives and by committee members who are here today. Our club is one of the largest in Europe. Our community is one of the largest in Europe and is unique. In a community of that size it is very difficult to stay galvanised and united around a common purpose. Heretofore, we thought that Na Fianna had achieved that, but little did we know that the impact of this project, as Mr. Ó Donnchú has said, would be to galvanise us further. In terms of lessons learned on public infrastructure projects, it is absolutely clear that the balance of power, resources, information and money lies with the State. Despite our best efforts and our early and ongoing consultation with TII, we have not met with an equal and appropriate response. Since the beginning of this process some short weeks ago we have sought to comprehend the detail of what is the most ambitious infrastructure project the State has ever proposed. We have used the voluntary resources of our club to try to make sense of it in a way which we could communicate to our large membership. Apart from the 2,000 members who engaged in the consultations in The Helix and the other northside venues, we have had one information meeting with our members at which there was standing room only. We had to look for larger and larger facilities and restrict the meeting to adults only, such was the weight of opinion and passion against this project.

As it stands, notwithstanding all of the obstacles and the lack of support we have received to date, we are prepared to believe in the integrity of the process. We believe in the commitments which TII and the NTA have given us in terms of a timely response. That tolerance and patience is, however, time-limited. Unless we get clarity on the outcome of the review of public consultation in a timely manner, we will have to consider what is an appropriate response at that stage in the interests of all of our community members and in the belief that we have a responsibility to the founding members of Na Fianna and to the people of Glasnevin and Drumcondra to deliver a result which is in the best interests of all concerned.