Mr. John O'Hara:

With regard to super pubs, I do not want to mention any particular pub. Our primary philosophy is to encourage mixed-use in the city. When we receive a planning application for a public house, such as the one referred to by the Senator, we look at the restoration of the street, the upper floors and protected structures in the area. Several of those boxes are ticked with regard to that. In the overall balance, we must consider that, on some occasions, a large pub, as a part of the overall mix of improving an area, is acceptable.

The development plan does not state large pubs are refused in every case. They are refused where there is an overconcentration to the extent that they are deleterious to the area. That has to be taken into consideration as well.

With regard to city council and learning mode, we are in learning mode all the time. It would be bold and brash of us to say we know the answer to everything. We have looked at places like Sydney, London, Lisbon and other European cities. We are beginning to collect the evidence at their experiences, good and bad. In my reading of the experience of London, that has been a two-year project of learning. As Mr. Ray Yeates said, it would be wrong to jump to an instant solution, particularly when we have heard good points that merit investigation and discussion.

On the third point about why we do not replicate other capital cities, the point I was making is that Dublin has a unique character. We do not want to become, as far as possible, a globalised type of city with the same product such as coffee shops.