From Weekend 1
have gained a lot more friends, there is still an underlying mistrust in a large section of the community. Once anything happens - like the liquidation of the construction company Harvey's, which we very much regret - it all adds to that sense that 'they' are keeping things from us."
He shrugs wearily. "But it's just impossible to maintain communication at that level, hour by hour, when there's so much to do just keeping the basic thing moving."
Today, he is engaged in back-to-back meetings involving the many parties wounded by the Health and Safety Authority's shutdown as well as legal and practical decisions on how to get the Harvey's site moving again. Builders' bonds and new insurances (a difficult area, made more so by September 11th) have to be sorted out. There's a community group in for a meeting who are having a ferocious disagreement among themselves. The van-shop owners have launched two legal actions and strategy must be discussed. And suddenly, Farrelly is racing to his car to quell what sounds like a residents' rebellion somewhere. It's still only 12.45 p.m.
Always, whirring away in the background, are the human dilemmas thrown up by any monumental upheaval intended to result in a new town the size of Sligo. "It's such a diverse community, ranging from people who are very sophisticated to people with very limited experience," says Murray.
"One of the difficulties we would have is trying to expose people to a wider sphere of experience. None of us entering into this knew that it would be such a cultural challenge, or realised how diverse and complex it would be.
"The intensity of opposition can vary from reasonable to raw to very aggressive. We've been hit with everything. We have had to become experts in health and safety, in environmental law, property law, joint venture partnerships, people claiming squatters' rights, 30 van-shop owners who are claiming possessory title to lands."
In the end, though, it's down to endless meetings, talking, negotiating, compromising. When the Poppintree residents expressed concern about the perceived over-development of their village centre, they brought in their own advisers. "While we wouldn't like to see that becoming a trend," says Murray, "we were very happy with the outcome, in that their advisers almost entirely endorsed our design."
On the other hand, when residents objected strenuously to the plan's inclusion of a small local pub in their village centre - which they view only as an assembly point for gangs and under-age drinking, but which most observers would see as a civilised amenity in any village - BRL decided to withdraw it.
Other campaigns that required much discussion included the one to persuade smaller family units that apartment living of the modern, low-rise kind, is not synonymous with menacing stairwells, flooding from above and head-banging noise. (The architects "designed out" these problems, producing separate ground-level entrances, separate staircases, plentiful insulation and, for some, private gardens.)
The biggest, most intractable battle of all, though, will probably continue to be waged for as long as Ballymun's regeneration remains incomplete. That one will be to soothe the fears of cynical people who may have to watch a recession take hold and believe that, as night follows day, they will be betrayed again.
Where in these uncertain times is the investment to come from for the business park? Murray concedes that there is "certainly concern" about the slowdown. "What I would like to see is an extension of the tax-designation status which currently runs to the end of December 2002. We believe that Ballymun has a lot of ground to make up over, say, Tallaght and Blanchardstown if we're to move towards equality."
Need an optimist? Enter Pat Turner, resident: "Ballymun is 10 minutes from the city centre, 10 from the airport, two from the M50, 20 from Dublin port. We've three Irish schools within a few minutes walk and an Irish secondary school. We have a very strong and opinionated community and groups that you wouldn't get anywhere else.
"If it's all about location, location, location, where else would you be?"
Ballymun Regeneration Ltd website: www.brl.ie