Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

If the NRDA was going to do the job of examining the issue from a national perspective - I am in favour of the concept of a centre of expertise that local authorities or other State bodies could join if they had unused State lands - my final piece of advice was that legislation would be needed that clearly set out what the agency would do. My view was that it should not be done in a big bang approach and that the Department should undertake a proof of concept first and, for example, take two or three sites and see what could be done with them. That was my advice to the officials. I heard no more about it. We exchanged niceties and thanked one another after the discussion, and then they went off. I had no further discussions or involvement after that.