Madam, – In Business This Week(November 6th), in an article headed "Boom-time deal in the docklands turns sour", it is stated that: "The authority [the DDDA] for its part, says it got involved because members of the local community had urged it to, and that it had acquired the minimum stake that would prevent it being outvoted on key decisions."
Similar statements appear in the forewords of the Dublin Docklands masterplan and the draft section 25 Poolbeg planning scheme of 2008 signed by Donal O’Connor, as chairman.
As many of your readers will be aware, political constituency boundaries do not necessarily coincide with geographical boundaries. Counties and districts are often split. The IGB and Fabrizia sites lie in the geographical location of Sandymount, being part of the hazardous waste dump created on Sandymount Strand. Members of the Docklands Council were chosen on the basis of political, not geographical, boundaries.
While representatives from adjoining communities and other areas were appointed to the Docklands Council and may or may not have made such a request, we were not at any time, prior to 2008, party to discussions, requests or decisions relating to any part of the area. We most decidedly did not urge the dockland authority to become involved in the acquisition of the IGB site or in Becbay.
In 2008, at meetings of a special interest group set up by the DDDA, we made at least two verbal requests for a copy of the relevant Docklands Council minutes at which, it is claimed, members of the council asked or urged authority members to become involved in Becbay. We have not received it. – Yours, etc,