Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I am stating the facts as they occurred. I will, however, take account of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's remark.

The difference between the purchase of the glass bottle site and previous cases in which the Dublin Docklands Development Authority bought property is that other private developers planned to purchase the site. As the local planning authority, why would the DDDA want to enter a joint venture with a property development company at the height of the Celtic tiger? This key question has not been properly answered. When she appeared before the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government last week, the new chairperson of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Professor Niamh Brennan, could not give a satisfactory explanation as to the objectives or reasons that would propel the authority to become involved in this project at a time when property values were high and many people were interested in getting involved in property. I hope the Minister will indicate that he plans to provide an answer to this key question.

The Irish Glass Bottle site was sold by tender in October 2006. The site was bought for €412 million or €17.2 million per acre, a phenomenal price which broke previous records. An additional sum of between €50 million and €90 million was set aside for remedial work, including demolition and decontamination. Board meeting minutes acquired by the Fine Gael Party show the former Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Dick Roche, signed off on increasing the authority's borrowing limit to facilitate the deal and sanctioned the acquisition of shares in the joint venture company. It is interesting that last week Professor Brennan was a little unsure about the role of the Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Finance in signing off on these matters.

Many questions remain to be answered about the Government's role in this disastrous deal. I ask the Minister to assure the House that he is anxious to resolve these matters and that he will be up front on what has occurred and what he proposes to do about it. I expect him to support this legislation as, rather than providing an opportunity to delay decisions, it will enable the House to ensure another quango is subject to legitimate accountability in response to recent revelations that a State body with a commercial remit has suffered massive losses and a massive shortfall in the moneys accruing to it.

The value of the Irish Glass Bottle site has declined from €412 million to €50 million. Even using the questionable valuation of longer economic value applied by the National Asset Management Agency, the site is still only valued at €62.5 million. The use of NAMA valuations for properties held by the State is a practice with which I disagree. Will this methodology be used to value local authority lands, IDA property and other State properties for the annual reports which will come before the House? The Government must provide clarity on whether State agencies can value property based on its long-term economic value rather than current market value. The Minister has strong views on this matter and must assert himself.

It is obvious that the decision to get involved with private property developers using Anglo Irish Bank finance to purchase a greatly overpriced site has backfired spectacularly. The Dublin Docklands Development Authority has posted an operating loss of €27.1 million for 2008 with a final deficit of €213 million as a result of massive write-downs on its property. How did the DDDA get into such a position? Was it a soft touch for developers? It was certainly a soft touch for the boys in Anglo Irish Bank, the most prestigious financial club in town. The bank populated the board of the authority and ran it as if it was the riverside branch of its operations and a part of its personal fiefdom. The authority became the playground of Anglo Irish Bank personnel. Those appointed to the DDDA board had to be the right people for the then Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, and Anglo Irish Bank.

Fianna Fáil populated the board of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority with Anglo Irish Bank officials for years. It was chaired by Mr. Lar Bradshaw, who served for a ten-year term until May 2007. He was replaced by Mr. Donal O'Connor, formally managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. O'Connor resigned when he was appointed to the chair of Anglo Irish Bank in December 2008. Mr. O'Connor's predecessor as chairman, Mr. Seánie FitzPatrick, was also a board member of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority from 2002. The board did not follow best practice rules for conflict of interest and we have established as much. Far from it. The Anglo Irish Bank board members took part in the special board meeting at which final approval of the purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site was debated. They gave full blessing to a deal that used their bank's finance to purchase land that broke all price records. However, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority insisted there was no conflict of interest. The chief executive must have known this would become an issue because other board members were still concerned about a perception of conflict of interest and we have the minutes to show this.

The role of Anglo Irish Bank in the Dublin Docklands Development Authority corrupted its original goal. Anything the Anglo Irish Bank boys wanted was theirs and it was as simple as that. They sought the Dublin Docklands Development Authority as a partner in a vast development and this is no surprise because of its planning function. The discussions surrounding the purchase of the site were between the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Anglo Irish Bank, Mr. McNamara and Mr. Quinlan on the basis of the density of housing and commercial development on the site. It was up to them to decide on that. A State body put most of its time, expertise and money at the disposal of Anglo Irish Bank. When the Anglo boys said "Jump", the only question put was "How high?". The end result was gross, outrageous overspending and bad and doubtful debts which have contributed to a deficit of almost €213 million in the overall accounts.

The new chairperson of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Professor Niamh Brennan, was understating the situation somewhat when she remarked during the recent meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government that Anglo Irish Bank carried out very extensive work with developers and, as a result, its relationship with developers led to the authority having a pro-developer position. She further remarked that the association between Anglo Irish Bank and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority has not served the authority well. She was perfectly correct. It is obvious that having Anglo Irish Bank officials involved in approving questionable investment decisions by the authority using Anglo Irish Bank financing was a completely unacceptable situation. The end result is a sense of community betrayal and baffling questions for the public as it watched the cranes cease to move over the half-built headquarters and as it absorbed the news that the U2 tower was never going to materialise.

As early last December, the authority examined all its programmes to establish how much could be cut because of the activities of the executive and the board of the authority. All community programmes on education, social housing and integration were considered for a budget cut. No one called for responsibility to be taken by those already on the board who made these decisions. No one in the organisation was approached for the purposes of retrieving some of the money for the irresponsible actions and decisions made. The only people to suffer will be the little people, those who required the benefits for which the organisation was established such as employment, education, community development and social housing facilitates. Funding for all such programmes was cut. The chairperson has now informed us that all discretionary expenditure is being cut and that it will have to move back to the old premises. I can only image how shell-shocked the local residents of the docklands are as a result. The question to which we must get an answer is simple: what the hell has been going on in Dublin Docklands Development Authority?

I understand the Minister and Professor Brennan have commissioned two reports, which is welcome. I trust they will produce some clarity about the financial dealings and the corporate governance issues. The Anglo Irish Bank personnel who were intricately involved with the authority have been playing charades throughout the years. It was a case of Lanigan's Ball and "I step in, you step out again". Any time a decision was to be made by the board that involved favouring one of the Anglo Irish Bank boys' pet customers, they received preferential treatment.

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority boys played dumb. They were as dumb as trees and as thick as planks. A perfect example is the case of Becbay, a consortium the Dublin Docklands Development Authority management was central in forming and it now owns somewhat greater than one quarter of the stake. One might question why such people as Mr. Bernard McNamara and Mr. Derek Quinlan would need the Docklands Authority as a partner. It was not simply for planning issues. The authority had no track record in such partnerships. It was easy fodder for the developers who gained a partner which provided an inside track on planning matters and the State.

Recently, it has been brought to our attention that the Dublin Docklands Development Authority provided a €43 million soft loan to Becbay to develop the Irish Glass Bottle site. It was an interest free, long-term and unsecured loan. We would all be delighted to have access to such facilities whether for personal or corporate uses. However, this is an example of a situation in which there was no regulation. There was no transparency or accountability and everything was out of control. That is why we seek the introduction of this legislation as soon as possible. This Fine Gael Bill should be agreed as soon as possible to get to grips with matters of accountability and such that probing by the Comptroller and Auditor General which will get to the root of why certain decisions were made, how they were made and what was behind those decisions in respect of a small number of individuals and which has, ultimately, led to the taxpayer being ripped off.

Even before the stripes fell off the Celtic tiger, it was not easy to secure such a loan from anyone to do anything. The DDDA loan was subordinated to the loans of the secured lenders to Becbay, with the result that the authority was assuming a greater risk in lending to the firm than the bankers to the project. What great people those on the board of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority were. They took an even greater risk than the banks which, as we are aware, took many risks at the time.

It is no wonder people are outraged at the decisions taken by the management on the issues sanctioned by the board. However, from the picture I have painted this evening, it is possible to see there is good reason that key individuals and players at board and senior executive level were in cahoots to ensure that they were part of the action. The €43 million has now been written off, according to notes to the accounts of the authority published recently. The authority also guaranteed €29 million of Becbay's bank borrowings, plus a 26% share of any interest on its loans, for the full term of those loans, representing another albatross around the neck of the taxpayer who will, ultimately, have to pick up the tab through the Minister.

As the stripes were peeling off the Celtic tiger, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority was so eager to get involved with Quinlan and McNamara and it willingly subordinated its money to the loans made by the banks to the same project.

At a time when anybody with two brain cells could see that the so-called soft landing, to which the then Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen, often referred, would come sooner rather than later, the chief executive officer of the DDDA effectively informed Mr. Quinlan and Mr. McNamara that they could count on the authority for €43 million, not to worry about paying it back, to take their time in doing so, that there was no hurry and not to even consider paying interest.

It remains for the Minister to make several decisions tomorrow. A good deal of money has been wasted by irresponsible behaviour despite the purpose of the authority to work for the people that the Minister, everyone else in the House and I try to represent and help. The last thing we seek is for the people who made these decisions to get away scot free, as has happened on many occasions in the past. The board members throughout the years, some of whom I have referred to tonight, should be brought before the relevant organisations and accountable structures, even if it involves the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, to account for their stewardship and for the irresponsible decision making carried out in our name.

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority approach was like a mad version of the housekeeper in "Father Ted", who used to say "Ah, go on, go on, go on". However, they will not pay it back.

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