Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this particularly important issue for north County Kildare, particularly for the people of Naas and the surrounding area.

The question of the stalled development of the town centre of Naas has been a moot issue for several years. It is ten years since the development stopped. Various procedures have been gone through in the meantime. I have raised the matter in this House, with the permission of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, on a number of occasions. I raised it in parliamentary questions and with Ministers. I have also raised the issue with the local authority. The position remains that the development, although in its final stages of inertia, is about to move on to the next stage, with a little bit of a push. I wish to raise that crucial strategic movement tonight.

If we count the amount of time and energy that has gone into evaluating the situation in Naas over the last number of years and put a cost on it it would be colossal. The symbolic vision of the stalled cranes on the horizon will have been there for ten years now and will remain there unless something very serious is done to move the process on. I know there is a process in place. On the last occasion the arbitration system had been referred and deferred; after sitting for a year it adjourned for a year, which is an extraordinary situation. At this stage I am asking the Minister of State if he can liaise with his colleague in the adjoining Department with a view to finding out exactly what is happening with the arbitration. Nothing positive can happen unless the arbitration is dealt with. There was only one arbitrator in the entire country. That was supplemented by four or five others, to the best of my knowledge, but we have heard nothing about that particular process since. To allow the prevailing situation to stand much longer will have a very serious impact on Naas because the town is now beginning to recover from the worst parts of the recession.

Now is the time to take the initiative and move it on. A good deal of work can be done in the interim before the final stages in respect of the development, which may be planning permission and many other issues, but if that work is not undertaken now it will have to be done at some stage in the future. For the life of me I cannot understand why it takes so long to do simple things. Everything seems to take forever in this country. We find that the simplest of issues that should have been dealt with in five or six weeks can take up to ten years. That does not give a good example to the rest of the country and it does not give a good impression of the country as to the way business is done here. I ask the Minister of State to take responsibility on this occasion and drive this forward in rapid fashion. If he cannot for some reason, I would like to know it.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I apologise to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I thought I was taking the fourth issue-----

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Exactly.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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-----and I am sorry if I delayed the House earlier.

I thank Deputy Durkan for again raising the matter of the stalled town centre development in Naas. I appreciate and understand his eagerness that it be brought to a satisfactory and speedy resolution. This is our third or fourth time discussing it here so I know it is an issue that is very close to the Deputy's heart and that he raises it out of genuine interest. I want to try to help as best as I possibly can, as does the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. We have been trying to get it resolved as best we can within our powers but that is not all in our gift.

As indicated in earlier Topical Issue debates and replies to parliamentary questions on this issue, the management of the stalled town centre development in Naas is a matter for Kildare County Council in the first instance. Furthermore, with processes under way involving both NAMA and arbitration, it would be improper for us, as Ministers, to get directly involved.

I further point out that under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act, both I and the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, are specifically precluded from exercising any power or control regarding any particular case with which a planning authority or An Bord Pleanála is or may be involved, except in very specific and extreme circumstances, which do not appear to apply In this case.

Nonetheless, I am advised that Kildare County Council has continued to make every effort to influence and encourage NAMA to offer the town centre site for sale as soon as possible and that a receiver has already been appointed for this purpose. I understand people are interested in purchasing it. I believe Deputy Durkan is aware of that and has been trying to work with people who could make something happen on that side also.

As I have previously outlined to the Deputy, and subject to a satisfactory planning approval, there is no impediment to accessing the site or to the appropriate development of the site. Kildare County Council fully recognises the strategic importance of the site to the town of Naas and will continue to support and work in partnership with any stakeholders involved in the site.

During the past two years, Kildare County Council has initiated and supported a number of projects with the strategic objective of ensuring that the social and economic development of Naas is protected and enhanced. Our Department will stand full square behind it in that regard. This work is underpinned by the work of the Naas roads and transport steering group, the URBACT group and the Naas regeneration group.

I accept that the Deputy is frustrated by the length of time it has taken to get this matter resolved but as I have outlined, the local authority is doing all it can within its available powers and the parameters of its role, while also recognising the relevant due processes that are required to be followed, with a view to seeing the sale of the site by means of the receivership process and its subsequent further development.

I am hopeful that with the appointment of the receiver, the matter can be further advanced towards resolution with a view to facilitating the further development and completion of this strategic town centre site in Naas. Our Department, and the Minister, Deputy Murphy, directly, have been in touch with the Department of Justice and Equality to try to move this on as quickly as possible and bring some pressure also. We do not have any powers to get involved from a planning point of view but, as I said, Kildare County Council wants this to happen as well. It is fully on board, and resources will not be the issue when we get this arbitration sorted out.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his reply, the contents of which I note and agree with generally. However, I believe there rests in the hands of the local authority more powers than it seems to want to exercise. In the first instance, I cannot understand the reason it takes a year for the arbitration process to be reinstated. It should have happened long ago. I do not know how long it will continue but I do know that the future of the reinstatement of the development at the town centre in Naas is largely dependent on the extent to which that matter can be resolved.

In the past, we have seen arbitration issues drag on for years up and down the country. It is time that we set an example in that enough is enough; we have waited long enough for the restart of the town centre development in Naas. It is not possible to wait forever. The delay will do irreparable damage to the restoration of the development, the confidence of the trading people of the area and to our standing in today's marketplace if we cannot see the ways and means of moving on that particular project.

John Steinbeck famously wrote about the grapes of wrath. If he was around today, I am sure he would be inspired equally by the cranes of Naas. They have been there for long enough. It is time they were moving again. I appeal to the Minister of State to make a telephone call to somebody who knows where the arbitrators are ensconced and try to prevail upon them the urgent necessity to carry out their function regarding the Naas town centre as quickly as possible.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I fully accept Deputy Durkan’s desire that this long-running matter, which is an unfortunate legacy of our recent economic recession and is impacting on the further development of Naas, be progressed and completed as soon as is practically possible in order that the expanding town of Naas can achieve its full potential. If we can help bring Naas back to its former glory through our urban regeneration fund, we will certainly do that.

As I indicated earlier, it would be inappropriate for me as Minister of State, or the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to become involved or make any further comment on the matter while a number of processes are under way. In any event, we are precluded in law from becoming involved in specific planning cases. However, we will try to help around that and when it is sorted out, we will be able to step in and do as much as we possibly can.

As regards the availability of only one individual arbitrator across the entire State and the ensuing backlog of hearings, I have no direct role in that matter and I understand from my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, that he has no official role either in regard to it. However, the appointment of property arbitrators is a matter for the Land Values Reference Committee, which comprises the Chief Justice, the President of the High Court and the President of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.

Under the Property Values (Arbitration and Appeals) Act 1960, the reference committee may appoint one or more persons as property arbitrators but the Minister has no role in those or in other policy or operational matters. If Deputy Durkan wishes to follow up on this issue, he should contact the secretary to the Land Values Reference Committee, who is based in the Supreme Court Office in the Four Courts. I do not have the telephone number the Deputy asked me for but that is the person he needs to contact.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Believe me, I have tried.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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We will also try to make a case for him as well because this is something our Department, and the employment and development Departments, want to see addressed. It is an issue that the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, discussed with all the local authority managers and housing officers at the recent housing summit. We want to try to strengthen the powers of local authorities to deal with unfinished sites and developments, but also derelict sites, through the compulsory purchase orders, CPO, process. A review of that is currently taking place as well as other matters, because local authorities need to be able to take action in these cases. In this case Kildare County Council wants to take action but it cannot, so we intend to try to strengthen its position and hopefully help in future cases also.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State.