Mr. Patrick Harkin:

I will take the first part of the Senator’s question and Mr. Rowe will take the second part.

We have read the legal opinion of Mr. Jonathan Newman in great detail. That legal opinion was based on one document, the KPMG document. It is based solely on that document and no other factors were considered, whereas Waterways Ireland has taken many factors into consideration in arriving at the fee of €4,000.

KPMG, for example, has quoted a figure of €7,800 for Grand Canal Dock but we took into consideration that the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland had proposed fees and that the Grand Canal Dock residents made a proposal to us on what fees they were prepared to pay in Grand Canal Dock. We also took on board 1,799 submissions across the waterways. All of those factors were taken on board before we arrived at a figure of €4,000. As Mr. Rowe said, we are reviewing that €4,000 figure again.

I fully appreciate and respect the legal opinion from Jonathan Newman SC but it was based on one document and not on the totality of the documents and submissions we received. Our proposed fee, as far as our legal team is concerned, is legally correct. We are not basing it on what Mr. Newman figured, which was on development. That addresses that part of the question.

I will go through some of the figures to show how we arrived at a figure of €4,000. For Grand Canal Dock, on which the KPMG legal opinion was based, the fee is €578 at the minute.