Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

I want to raise the issue of the public private partnership position regarding Dublin City Council and developments proposed in recent years. It is time the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government called in the developer and the people in question regarding that development. This has been going on for four or five years. The public private partnership can play a major part in the development of our city but not under the current process because of the way it is being handled. It is taking far too long. There has been four years of debate on St. Michael's Estate. That project was ready to proceed, but because the other part of the agreement was not reached it cannot proceed. Having reached agreement on the PPPs, planning permission must then be applied for. I suggest we ask the city council to use the paragraph VIII provision, which means that planning and the PPP could be agreed together, instead of waiting a further two years.