I wish the Taoiseach and the Government well today in their talks with the trade unions. It would be wrong to have a second one-day strike next week, and I hope the talks conducted by the Government will be meaningful, in return for calling off the strike.

The accounts are to be published tomorrow for the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. These accounts will show an estimated operating loss of €27 million. The authority was funded by Anglo Irish Bank, and personnel from the bank were on the authority's board. Almost €460 million was spent on the purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle Company site, of which the authority owns 26%. Does the Taoiseach think this is an appropriate way to conduct business? Does he have a view that the Government will have to bail out the authority because of the extent of its operating loss?

When we debated yesterday the consequences of flooding across the country, the Government was able to come up with a maximum of €12 million for people whose livelihoods have been washed away, but it now appears as if the Government will have to bail out the Dublin Docklands Development Authority to the extent of €27 million, which resulted from the involvement of bankers and developers in the unregulated and unsupervised purchase of assets like the glass bottle company site. Is it the Government's intention to bail out the docklands authority?

The annual report of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority will be published tomorrow and will be dealt with by the chairman then. The authority is a commercial semi-State body, financed entirely from its own resources, generated through the acquisition, development and sale of assets in the docklands. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has a general oversight role, ensuring that the authority complies with its statutory requirements and that it continues to fulfil its roll in revitalising, regenerating the docklands area. The authority will issue its report tomorrow. It will be dealt with by that authority, which is a commercial semi-State body.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has a general oversight responsibility for this commercial semi-State body. As the Government, through the Department, has a general oversight responsibility here, does the Taoiseach think it appropriate that bankers would authorise lending to the extent that they did for the purchase of an asset, when members of that bank were on the board of the purchasing authority itself? Does having a general oversight responsibility extend to saying something about that?

The operating loss for the authority is €27 million, as is now common knowledge. It is a commercial body that cannot default on its loans. Will the taxpayer fork out €27 million to bail out the Dublin Docklands Development Authority as a result of this, when the taxpayer is also expected to put €27 billion into the same bank?

Deputy Hogan has requested that the Comptroller and Auditor General be involved in an independent audit of the conduct of the DDDA and its financial affairs. Will the Taoiseach authorise this request, so that transparency and accountability can be had in this case?

The authority's accounts are audited by external auditors, KPMG. The authority is specifically excluded, along with many other State and semi-State commercial bodies, from being audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Under existing arrangements, it is open to the joint environment committee to have the authority appear before it, and thus afford the Oireachtas the opportunity to question the authority. I am aware that the committee has asked the authority to come before it next week.

Professor Niamh Brennan was appointed chairperson of the authority, and she has particular expertise in this area. The Minister has asked for a report on the governance situation and is awaiting that report from the authority. All State bodies have been asked to certify that their procedures and practices are in accordance with the code of practice for the governance of State bodies, an updated version of which was published by the Department of Finance in May 2009. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government wrote separately to the chairperson, looking for a comprehensive review of corporate governance in the DDDA. I understand that review is advancing well, but some further work remains to be done, so I cannot speculate on what the review might say. That report will be considered when it is submitted, as will any recommendations arising from it.