Mr. Paul Maloney:

I think within a few hours of being informed, I rang Mr. Bradshaw and we discussed whether we would proceed any further. I said: "I have a second name to propose to you." The reasons I proposed Bernard McNamara were fourfold. I had just joined the authority so I had never met or heard of Mr. McNamara, other than through the media, but I had seen the records of my executive of the joint venture that we had already done in docklands with Mr. McNamara. The first criteria I laid down were trust and development of the community, and he had delivered on both of those. The second was capability - he was the biggest developer in Dublin. The third one was exemplary developments; he had just finished the Shelbourne Hotel and that was highly lauded by many people as a great restoration. So I felt I should put it to the chairman to possibly explore a deal with Mr. McNamara. I felt confident. I had ruled out so many others on those criteria, so I felt that was right.