Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Yesterday, a major developer, the McNamara-Castlethorn consortium, withdrew from five public private partnerships with Dublin City Council for the regeneration of several areas of the city, including St. Michael's estate in Inchicore, O'Devaney Gardens, Dominick Street, Infirmary Road and Seán McDermott Street. These projects involved the provision of more than 1,000 social and affordable housing units, along with community and neighbourhood facilities, in an effort to regenerate and revitalise areas which are among the most disadvantaged not only in Dublin city, but in the State. Much work was done over a seven-year period in bringing forward these regeneration schemes. This involved consulting with the communities themselves and with the wider neighbourhoods to agree the schemes that were eventually devised. In anticipation of the work, a considerable amount of detenanting has taken place within those areas. In O'Devaney Gardens, for example, four of the 14 blocks have been detenanted. Similar levels of detenanting have taken place in the other estates.

The people living in these estates are absolutely devastated that their hopes for the regeneration of their homes and neighbourhoods are now dashed. Several questions arise. What can the Taoiseach say to the people living on these estates and whose hopes have been so badly damaged by yesterday's announcement? What hope can he offer them that the regeneration will proceed as planned? What alternative arrangements will be put in place to ensure this is so? Why was the same developer awarded the contract for all these schemes?

What penalty clauses, if any, were attached to the contract which allow the developer to withdraw at this late stage? As we said last week during an exchange of opinions on this area, public private partnership should not only exist when times are good. The concept includes the idea that the partnership should also be there when times are tightening. It should not be the case that the Exchequer takes all the risk and the developer pulls out when the situation gets trickier. Are we likely to see the plug being pulled in coming weeks or months on any other public private partnerships in which either this or other developers are engaged?

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