Docklands authority set to be wound up

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which has liabilities of €32m, is to be wound up.

Phil Hogan, the environment minister, said a new board had been appointed, led by Dublin’s city manager John Tierney, with a maximum of 18 months to complete the wind-up.

Mr Hogan said the Government took the decision on the authority’s future in light of a special report on the authority prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General & along with the authority’s annual report and financial statements for 2011. Both of those reports were made public yesterday.

The C&AG’s report found the authority had “current liabilities” of €32m at the end of 2010 and “the same basic position pertained at the end of 2011”.

One of the docklands authority’s projects which has courted most controversy is the Irish Glass Bottle site at Poolbeg. The C&AG said the authority, together with two venture partners through Becbay Limited, purchased the Irish Glass Bottle site for €412m in 2007. By Jan 2011 the value had plummeted to €45m.

It said the authority became involved despite being advised that it was doing so in an “overheated commercial property market” and without considering a detailed assessment of the investment, benefits, and risks.

The C&AG said when the authority sought ministerial approval for further borrowing for the project, the information it provided “did not reflect the planned scale of the project”.

The C&AG said the total outlay of the authority on the Irish Glass Bottle site transaction was €52.1m.

It had been speculated that responsibility for planning for the 1,300 acres of docklands under the authority’s control would pass back to Dublin City Council. However, last night, Mr Hogan’s department said no decisions had been made.

Mr Hogan said the Government would finalise the “appropriate arrangements for ensuring a continued, concerted focus on the docklands regeneration initiative” in parallel with the tenure of the new board.

He said a “standalone” docklands authority was “no longer considered to be a viable vehicle, financially or otherwise”.