Minister seeks CIE dockland portfolio report

A full report on CIE's legal commitments in the event of the Spencer Dock development not going ahead is to be prepared for the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke.

The chairman of CIE, Mr John Lynch, gave a commitment to Ms O'Rourke to provide such a report during a 45-minute meeting in her Department yesterday.

The Minister wants to know what the company's commitments are if the controversial development does not go ahead in the short-term.

A 40-acre site owned by CIE in the Dublin docks which was to provide the bulk of the land needed for the development, is thought to be worth in excess of £100 million.

The company hopes to set up an income stream from the proposed docklands development but the Minister is interested in how much money could be raised through the sale of non-essential land owned by CIE, with the money being used to fund new rolling stock and other improved services. An Bord Pleanala last week refused planning permission for most of the proposed elements of the £1.2 billion development, though it did grant permission for the conference centre which forms the development's centrepiece. The consortium behind the proposal has said it is going to submit revised plans.

Ms O'Rourke briefed the Cabinet yesterday morning on the latest developments concerning the Spencer Dock application.

She has requested that a report which estimated the value of CIE's nonessential land throughout the State be revised so that it includes the 40-acre Spencer Dock site. The value put on CIE's non-essential land by the report has not been released.

Dr Ray Byrne, former group head of programmes and projects with CIE, told the Bord Pleanala hearings into the Spencer Dock project that it would provide the company with "several hundred million pounds of funds in the short to medium term for essential investment in public transport infrastructure and rolling stock".

The development "is of critical importance to the CIE group in the context of funding of its longterm investment programme in public transport infrastructure and facilities" and was necessary due to "low Government support for public transport in Ireland and Government constraints on increasing fares," Mr Byrne told the hearing. CIE's partners in the consortium, the Spencer House Docks Development Company, are Treasury Holdings and businessman Mr Harry Crosbie.

The proposed development was heavily criticised by local groups who were against the construction of the high-rise office blocks.

The proposal was also contrary to the masterplan which has been adopted by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority for the docklands area. That plan envisages most new buildings not exceeding nine stories in height, apart from a number of landmark buildings spread throughout the docklands site.