Cyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

In recent weeks and months we have had much discussion, much of it negative, on the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. I want to concentrate on the positives. Since 1997, I have had personal experience of the huge benefits the authority has brought to the docklands on both sides of the River Liffey, as Deputy Chris Andrews mentioned, which were derelict and deprived areas. It has made a huge positive contribution to the development of those areas. All that positivity and progress is being lost.

Public consultation and community input have always played a part in the positive work in the docklands. The local community is represented on the advisory council, and not just by individuals from the community but also by elected public representatives in the form of local councillors. Statutory and voluntary agencies are also involved as well as the authority itself. It has always been a platform for communities in the area to put forward their points of view and ensure they are not being trodden on. This type of community consultation and facilitation is a model which is being examined in other parts of the world and it came from the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.

Various improvements and changes that have taken place have been mentioned and I will go through a few of them briefly. Hundreds of families and individuals are now in sustainable high-quality accommodation in what was a deprived derelict area. A vast number of community development programmes have taken place in recent years with the various communities in the area. These have proven hugely successful and of huge benefit not just to young and older people but to the community as a whole. We must continue with this.

I remember when the Irish Financial Services Centre was a hole in the ground. A local employment contract was signed by the developers and local people were employed. That continued into the development of the docklands. It has proven hugely successful. I remember a lady from the Sheriff Street area comparing it to the 1940s and 1950s when people walked over the bridge at Sheriff Street to go to work in the mornings. This was happening again in the docklands area with people going to banks, offices and hotels. There was employment for people who for generations had no options and nowhere to go.

Perhaps the biggest change and impact of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority is in the area of education. Children in the docklands, particularly in the north inner city where I spend much time, are better educated, more confident and have more choices than before. Leaving education at junior certificate level or at the ages of 12, 13 or 14 to go out to try to earn money for one's family is no longer an issue in these areas.

In the 12 years since the Dublin Docklands Development Authority came into being, a vibrant, sustainable and integrated community has been created. That fact has become lost during the debate. It has always been my opinion that buildings do not make communities, rather it is people who do so. I grew up in the docklands area and I have monitored what occurred there in recent years. It was only in the past two years that financial and governance issues arose in respect of the authority. During the previous ten years, however, the authority made major progress and its work had a major impact on the local communities.

Whatever about corporate governance issues, there is no doubt but that the interests of the communities to which I refer are being forgotten. The debate on where we go from here smacks of closing the gate after the horse has bolted. There are corporate governance mechanisms in place and there are rules and regulations with regard to how State and semi-State bodies are run. We must concentrate on continuing to support the positive work that has been done by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority over the past 12 years.

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