DDDA Social Investment Disaster

Call for Dublin Docklands board to state Ringsend losses

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0810/1224252313813_pf.html

STEPHEN COLLINS

Mon, Aug 10, 2009

THE DUBLIN Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) should disclose just how much it has lost on its property investment at Ringsend in Dublin, according to Fine Gael spokesman on the Environment, Phil Hogan TD.

He said documents received by Fine Gael showed the DDDA pumped more money into the former Irish Glass Bottle site, located in Minister for the Environment John Gormley’s constituency, as it needed serious and large-scale clean-up work to render it safe and environmentally clean.

“The much-needed social redevelopment of the docklands area is now in danger of falling by the wayside, following a series of ill-judged property investment decisions by the DDDA,” said Mr Hogan.

He added that the documents he had obtained through the Freedom of Information Act showed the authority and its partners had grossly underestimated the scale of remediation work needed at the Ringsend site. As a result, he said, the board of the Dublin Docklands Development authority had to sanction funds to plough into the site that could have been used for much-needed urban regeneration.

“The latest move by the authority’s holding company, Becbay, to apply to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to remove its Integrated Pollution Prevention Control licence (IPPC), also raises the question as to whether or not the necessary remediation work has been completed to a safe standard.

“I recently wrote to the authority’s new chairperson, Prof Niamh Brennan, seeking a response on these issues, including the exact cost to date of the clean-up operation at Ringsend.

“I am also seeking to find out exactly what financial restructuring has taken place within the DDDA to ensure the questionable decisions that have been made are explained and that serious financial mistakes are not repeated,” said Mr Hogan.

© 2009 The Irish Times