The involvement of CHDDCL with the Dublin Docklands Development Authority will cease whenever it has developed a listed dockland warehouse no longer in use.

The warehouse, called "Stack A", is the remaining building on the 27-acre site which was the subject of the original 1988 agreement between the two parties.

However, before this final development can proceed the authority and CHDDCL must receive a decision from the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, and the Government, in relation to a proposal made in 1997 by the financier Mr Dermot Desmond.

Various sources have indicated that Mr Desmond may no longer be interested in going ahead with his proposal for the "Stack A" warehouse, which he had wanted to develop into an "ecosphere" - a glazed pyramid 80-metres high and filled with exotic plants and animals.

However, Mr Desmond has not withdrawn the proposal which he first put to Mr Ruairi Quinn when he was minister for finance.

Upon receipt of the proposal the authority was informed it should not go ahead with the development of "Stack A" and there the matter stands. An interdepartmental evaluation of the proposal was conducted after its receipt and was reportedly unfavourable on a number of counts. But the report has never been released.

A decision on the project has to be taken at "ministerial level", a spokeswoman for the department said when asked about the matter, but would not comment further.

Meanwhile, the authority and CHDDCL have a number of plans for what they would like to do with the warehouse, plans which would involve a museum and cultural and retail developments but no offices nor apartments.