Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Chair and welcome Mr. John Monahan and Mr. Michael Hand to today’s meeting. It is important the agency gets the opportunity to put on the record of the House where things stand with this project and the progress made. I could not be more supportive of this project as it is magnificent for the area. I am delighted the Government was able to play a role in getting this project back on track after the decisions made over a year ago. It is a great credit to the agency to see how it has navigated its way through the different challenges that have emerged. As someone who is always quite sceptical of the idea of having an autonomous agency to complete such a project – one person’s agency is another person’s quango – I have seen the benefits of an approach where a small group of people who are not embedded in any particular Department but understand how they all work can play a role in pushing a project through and dealing with the ups and downs. It has been a real lesson to me in terms of the role a body such as the GDA can play in a project so large.

As part of the recent planning application that was lodged, I have become aware over the past couple of days of some local concerns regarding transport on Rathdown Road and the allocation of coach drop-offs and taxi ranks.

I may speak to the witnesses later today about that issue. The agency has worked well with the community throughout this project and it has addressed its concerns in a positive manner. I simply flag the issue as something that needs to be worked on over the coming days. It is exciting that work will be starting next year and students will begin to use the campus over the next 12 to 18 months. As we get into delivery mode, however, there will be an attitude of disbelief that it is actually happening and I encourage the agency to continue its efforts to keep the project in the public eye once the work begins. Even though I am delighted with the progress we have made, we still have a long way to go before we realise the full vision of the strategic development zone, SDZ. The agency has been successful at keeping it on the boil when times were difficult but it will be important to continue to doing that because all of us want to see the entire project delivered.