Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority was established in 1997 to secure sustainable physical, social and economic regeneration of the Dublin docklands area, comprising approximately 500 hectares north and south of the River Liffey. The authority has a development remit and a planning role.

Members will recall previous hearings into the events surrounding the purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Poolbeg by a joint venture company, in which the authority was a partner. The failure of the joint venture project resulted in significant losses for the authority, which contributed to very difficult financial challenges and gave rise to a major legal case against the authority. Against this background, the Government announced its decision in May 2012 to dissolve the authority and transfer its planning and development functions to Dublin City Council. Legislation will be required to give effect to this decision, and I understand this is being prepared. The actual dissolution date has not yet been determined, and in the meantime, the authority has a transitional business plan in place to resolve the liabilities of the authority through the liquidation of assets, including the transfer of the relevant infrastructure, and to deal with any remaining litigation.

In 2013, the authority disposed of significant investment properties, resulting in a turnover of €21 million, and reported an operating surplus of €2.7 million for the year. This compared to an operating deficit of €5.7 million in 2012.

For 2013, the authority chose to change its accounting policy to show all fixed assets and certain investment assets that were previously held at nil value at their market value. The 2012 comparatives have been restated to reflect the effect of the change in accounting policy on the prior period. As a result of this adjustment, the 2012 net assets increased by €5.2 million to €10.2 million. The 2013 net assets of the authority amounted to €15.2 million.

The authority’s liabilities decreased from €24.4 million at end 2012 to €12.7 million at end 2013, and this was funded through the proceeds of the sale of investment assets. The authority continued to sell its investment properties throughout 2014 in order to meet its outstanding liabilities.

The 2013 financial statements were certified on the 23 December 2014, and a clear audit opinion was given. However, on page 16 the audit certificate drew attention to the executive board’s compliance statement, which discloses that the authority did not comply with public procurement guidelines in a number of instances. My office is awaiting draft financial statements for 2014 from the authority.