Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

From the point of view of my Department, the chairman, to his credit, put in a significant amount of his time. He has many commitments but he was dedicated to moving this forward. He is obviously a loss to the group. However, there are other good and dedicated people on the group. They include the Chairman of the Office of Public Works; the Secretary General, PSMD, of the Department of Finance; a chartered surveyor; an outside private sector managing director; a former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners. The resignation is a distraction and it is necessary to fill the position and move on. The process of engaging with the advisory committee, my Department and others has been well organised. It would be better if difficulties did not arise, but they did and we must now move on.

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