Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. Time is critical and now is the time for NAMA to look at the assets it controls in Naas and to consider to what extent it can facilitate a reactivation of the development that is holding up development of the town centre because it has much wider implications and affects the entire town and outlying regions.

While we are on the job, I suggest they might liaise with the local authority. I know they are in discussion with it and with the arbitration services, as should be the case. I would ask them to concentrate their efforts with a view to bringing about an early indication as to where they are heading. From here on in, the confidence of the local community, the business sector and those who are seeking local authority and private housing will be facilitated or otherwise by the extent to which NAMA can act as an impeller in propelling the development forward.

Several years have elapsed since the development stalled. Sufficient time has now gone by. It is imperative that NAMA not only look at the town centre in Naas but also at the other adjoining towns in County Kildare, with a view to ascertaining the extent to which it can facilitate the early resumption of development and the bringing to a conclusion of the freeze that has kept the place under a cloud for some time.

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