Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask the witnesses some questions and shall start with general questions for Mr. Yeates, whom I know well. I have worked with him in the past and know him to be an excellent purveyor of the arts. Was he frustrated in having to wear one hat here when his passion is under another hat? Did the situation frustrate him greatly? I got the impression that he was massively frustrated from what he said because he wanted things to move on but was caught in a thousand different ways.

I ask Mr. Yeates to outline for me three threats and three pitfalls as I did not find out what they were from the generalised comments.

Is anybody who has a partnership with a local authority doing just what our previous speakers would like to be seen done in a village or town? Is there any local authority that has surpassed itself?

Why is the research not ongoing now? Why are we waiting to think about the research? Are we thinking about it? I know there was some in 2008. Is there anything that is ongoing now? Where is the result? When can we expect the result? When I hear the phrase "we have a policy and research" I know there is an impasse and nothing is going to happen. Why have we not found out more readily before now? We have kicked this matter around now for a good few years, and kicked around the whole matter of the inner city and the development of the city.

I understand what was said about the Tivoli Theatre. I mean if somebody who owns the theatre and the land wants to sell it we cannot come in and say, "look at me, I am dancing". Where was the county council with its money? The millennium clock cost €870,000, I think. The clock was supposed to count us down to the year 2000 but it sank in the River Liffey. Was there no funding to enable the county council to have a conversation about preserving the Tivoli? We should have learned a lesson from the Metropole Cinema, which became British Home Stores displaying brassieres and knickers in its windows.

Can Mr. Yeates explain what was meant by the following? He said that Mr. Keegan was told by the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan - well done, Minister - to set up a local committee for the consideration of night time culture in Dublin city by 29 November but Dublin City Council decided, due to a lack of research or however it decided, that it was not possible to set up the committee within the timeframe suggested. I no more believe that than I believe I am going to paint this room. I ask Mr. Yeates to talk to me about the matter.

I thank Mr. O'Hara, city planner for Dublin City Council, for his attendance. One of the issues that he discussed was the discouragement of superpubs. About an hour ago I talked about Wetherspoons that has taken over a big quarter here in Dublin. We seem to be contradicting what he talked about in planning. I do not know how Wetherspoons got planning since we are against superpubs and I am sure it is the biggest, super duper pub one can find.

Mr. O'Hara said that the Dublin City Council was in learning mode. We are beyond that and must have talent. If the people on Dublin City Council do not have the talent then they should not be there. For some of the people I met earlier, it might do them justice to stand because they seem to have far more talent than what is on the city council if it is in learning mode.

Mr. O'Hara also said that we do not want to replicate other capital cities. Will he outline the capital cities that we do not want to replicate? What is it about them that we do not like? Does he have a capital city in mind that we do want to replicate? I have a few suggestions.

I thank Ms Colville for being here. I know she had to go through all of the legality that certainly sent me to sleep but I understand that she had to do so. I wish to refer to the last two paragraphs where she said that the Minister for Justice and Equality is open to consultation. Being open to consultation and having a consultation are two different things. The phrase "he does not have immediate plans to amend the law" worries me greatly. Were the five or six earlier speakers wasting their time? I need a serious answer because we may be wasting our time trying to change legislation, which is the way to go to get them out of the milieu that solidifies them into licensing laws and insurance laws that they have nothing to do with. I ask Ms Colville to address that matter and maybe leave us with something positive that the earlier speakers might be able to work around and take up.