Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

Significant concerns have arisen about the way this deal was originally arrived at and how it has been conducted over a period, particularly given that the payment of the interest on the loan has effectively stopped. It raises questions about the liquidity of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. The fundamental question that merits further investigation, and on which I hope the Minister agrees with me, is that the initial sum paid for the site was €411 million. That was, at the very least, €42 million more than the highest valuation of the site. It beggars belief that a public body, which essentially is what the Dublin Docklands Development Authority is, could justify that kind of expenditure and consider it in any way feasible. The site is now devalued at a minimum by 60%; that is probably a conservative estimate. Some valuers now value the IGBC site at €90 million. The problem is that with the establishment of the National Assets Management Agency and because Bernard McNamara and the other investors have essentially washed their hands of it in terms of paying the interest on the loan, the taxpayer has been lumped with paying the tab.

Does the Minister plan to review the ethical guidelines for the operation of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority? We saw a huge conflict of interest in terms of directors of Anglo Irish Bank, directors of the board of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and the sellers of the IGBC site to the Becbay Ltd. consortium, many of whom had business interests with existing directors on the DDDA at the time. Does the Minister support the call from the Oireachtas committee for the Comptroller and Auditor General to investigate not just the corporate governance aspect, but the specific property deals over which there are major question marks? Will the Minister give a commitment, as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, that he will not sign the development plan for the Poolbeg peninsula because that is linked to this issue? Ultimately, it will be in the Minister's hands. The deadline for submissions is this week but it is the Minister's call. He has the power not to sign the plan.

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