3 4 CHAIRMAN: Good morning Mr. O'Neill. 5 - The Tribunal of ...

201 the lands they were lands which were zoned for agricultural use only and had2 had that status from -- well from the initial zoning of the lands in County3 Dublin with the exception of a brief period when it was intended, in 1980 or4 thereabouts, that they would be rezoned for the purpose of residential5 development in conjunction with part of the lands of Mr. Liam Lawlor and that6 that decision had been reversed; is that a fair summary of the knowledge which7 you had prior to committing yourself to acquiring the lands?8 A. Yes, it is.9 Q. 99 Right. What was your belief as to how you could set about achieving your goal10 of developing these lands for residential housing in the light of the existing11 planning permission -- sorry -- the existing zoning status of agricultural12 land?13 A. Well I knew, and upon having John O'Connor's people check it, that I was14 satisfied that all of the services necessary to develop it were adjacent to the15 development, to the proposed lands. In other words, the Grifeen River, there16 was access to that through public property, Dublin County Council at the time.17 There was no third party involved for to get access from. And likewise, with18 foul sewage, it would run parallel as far as the Grifeen River with the surface19 water. And then onwards to large empty foul sewage pipe on Dublin County20 Council property and laid by them some years prior to that, several years prior21 to that.22 Q. 100 I take it you're aware of the fact that since it was land which was zoned for23 agricultural use only and since there was not, at that point in time, a draft24 Development Plan being considered by the council, that it would involve a25 material change of use of the lands for your plans to be achieved; isn't that26 right?27 A. Very much so. It was the only way it could move forward.28 Q. 101 Right. And how did you intend to progress that application, I'm talking now29 about the time before you actually commenced it, but what were your30 intentions, what was the plan forward as you saw it prior to your acquiring thePremier Captioning & Realtime Limitedwww.pcr.ie Day 564