Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I wish to share time with Deputies Pat Rabbitte, Liz McManus, Joanna Tuffy and Tony Gregory, with the permission of the House.

In the short time available to me I want to concentrate on the part of this motion which deals with Finglas village. Members may be aware — I hope the Minister of State is — that the same developer who is the subject of this motion made a decision last week which has profound implications for the people of Finglas. The long-awaited and desperately needed regeneration of Finglas village is to be abandoned with little prospect that the situation will improve in the short to medium term.

Finglas has a population of approximately 50,000 people. It has been acknowledged for many years that the village needed to be upgraded. Much of its centre is comprised of poor quality, unsympathetic commercial developments from the 1960s. It has lacked a competitive edge and an attractive physical character and in recent years struggled to compete with the new shopping centres around the M50.

On the plus side, however, it has a great deal of potential. Apart from the rich history and strong spirit, it enjoys a prime location just 6 km from the city centre. It has DCU on its doorstep and is the primary hub for an increasingly prosperous hinterland or catchment area. Finglas is designated as a prime urban centre in Dublin City Council's current development plan. Prior to this, much work was done in developing a regeneration strategy. This entailed widespread public consultation and agreement on the optimum framework for commercial and residential development for the future. What was needed then was a developer with vision and commitment who could ensure that Finglas would realise its potential.

In the early 2000s Cunningham Brothers had a short involvement in the area but were soon bought out by the firm of McNamara, with Spain Courtney Doyle acting as agents. The three separate shopping precincts in the village were bought by McNamara and planning permission was sought for the main centre. Permission was granted in July 2004 for a substantial retail and office development, 166 residential units, a public library, car park and crèche. Residents and traders in Finglas were delighted that at last things were moving in the village. The long overdue regeneration was to start. That was July 2004 and everything was ready to go.

This is July 2008, not a sod has been turned and unfortunately it seems there is no prospect of any substantial work being carried out for the foreseeable future. The regeneration of Finglas has been abandoned. Finglas has missed the boat and the hopes of many thousands of residents and indeed traders have been dashed.

Responsibility for this lies at a number of doors, certainly with the Government and with our planning laws and probably most of all with the developer, McNamara. The Government, despite the boom years, has neglected to invest in Finglas to the extent necessary to bring it up to modern day standards in terms of infrastructure, policing and education services. For example, a critical project in terms of the attractiveness of Finglas for private investment was the metro. A metro line from the city centre to Finglas and on to Dublin Airport was proposed in 2000 and adopted as Government policy by the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Mary O'Rourke in 2001. In spite of the fact that Finglas went on to elect two Fianna Fáil Deputies, the metro never materialised.

The prospects for regeneration of the village were not helped when Fingal County Council granted planning permission to Bovale Developments for a major new town centre development less that half a mile from the village, in Charlestown. This was done without any reference whatsoever to the city planners in respect of existing plans for the regeneration of Finglas. Thus, the Finglas plans were significantly undermined by Fingal's actions in this regard. Time dragged on and various excuses were put forward for why McNamara could not go ahead. These ranged from disputes over the ownership of part of the site, which seemed to go on forever, to claims that some small traders were holding up the development. The fact was that Finglas did not rate as a priority for Bernard McNamara and so it received very little of his attention. In the context of Mr. McNamara's vast property portfolio, Finglas and its people did not rate. He did not have the vision and commitment which the regeneration proposals required.

Bernard McNamara is estimated to be worth in excess of €230 million and is ranked 54th on the Sunday Times Irish rich list. He heads up a company which has a declared turnover of €500 million per annum. Over the past couple of years he has acquired an impressive portfolio of properties which include the Burlington Hotel — €288 million, Carrickbrook House in Ballsbridge — €412 million, the Montrose Hotel — €40 million, the Superquinn chain — €450 million, and a stake in the Conrad Hotel — €45 million, among many others. It is not hard to see how Finglas and indeed the five housing PPPs were merely small change in the McNamara scheme of things.

While the projects might have been small change to Mr. McNamara, they represented something hugely important for the communities and the people concerned, giving grounds for hope in the future and a better life. Those hopes have now been cruelly dashed by the decision of this developer to simply walk away, and it seems the Government is quite happy to stand idly by.

Bernard McNamara has been an immensely successful businessman. He has amassed a massive property portfolio. He has received and continues to be awarded substantial Government contracts as well as umpteen private contracts and is among the top three building contractors in the State. To say he has done well is an extreme understatement. He has been greatly facilitated in this success by a friendly Government and a very benign tax regime.

I suggest that at this point——

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