Public Inquiry

The NAC story continues to escalate, Bertie’s baby is a disaster. There is something distinctly iffy going on, and the whole truth may never come out. The SBP reported Sunday that the Center may cost upwards of €20 million to repair. Dublin Waterworld sound like a very strange organisation indeed.

Despite repeated claims that the pools in the centre were leaking “like a sieve”, it is understood that in the examination yesterday the only leaks detected were in piping in the centre. Such piping is the responsibility of Dublin Waterworld.

This examination also contradicted a report for Dublin Waterworld by engineering firm Malachy Walsh & Partners which found evidence of leaks from cracks in the pools.

While cracks were found yesterday, these were said to be dry. Such cracks were also described as a normal offshoot from the construction process. The examination also found no evidence that the building was at risk from subsidence.

Rohcon’s spokesman declined to comment on the examination, stating only that a full statement would be issued when the examination was complete.

CSID chief executive Donagh Morgan also declined to comment on the findings.

“They’re in the process of conducting investigations into the alleged defects that have been published in the media and CSID look forward to the completion of those investigations,” he said.

Minister for Sport John O’Donoghue said yesterday that the centre was not “a shambles” and added that he supported CSID’s legal action. “The impression has been created that there is some kind of a shambles of a building up in Dublin falling down and leaking 5,000 gallons of water every now and then. This is to my knowledge untrue.”

And Bertie has been on the defensive for his pet project:

He acknowledged that the aquatic centre was a “pet project” of his. “Indeed, I am proud to claim that it is such.” The Government’s motivation was to provide a 50-metre pool and to provide a location for the Special Olympics aquatic events. “The project was delivered on time and on budget,” he insisted to Opposition heckling and laughter.

The Taoiseach was responding to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny who described the “debacle” of the centre as an “apt metaphor for the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat Government – massive costs to the public, a so-called state-of-the-art attraction that is all splash, with fake waves, the roof blown off and leaking like a sieve”.

Mr Kenny claimed that the Taoiseach as the sole promoter and shareholder of the project “is personally responsible for the huge failures that have been exposed”.

He asked the Taoiseach to confirm that the aquatic centre “is leaking water at the rate of five million litres per month and that a consultants’ report has found that the original roof structure was substandard, suggesting that either corners were cut or plans were washed away at construction stage”.

Mr Ahern said he was “very sad to see the Opposition aligning themselves with the company that CSID has take to court and acting as its mouthpiece in the House today.

“Deputies appear to have no compunction about making public statements on matters before the court.”

He said he and the Government were not at all happy with Dublin Waterworld, which runs the centre. The company had “done a very good job in Killarney in the Kerry operation but it has not done a good job in this case”.

CSID had taken the company to court for breaches of the lease agreement, including failure to pay rent, to provide audited accounts, failure to pay insurance on the building and to establish a sinking fund.

A dispute over whether the company had to pay more than €10 million in VAT was referred to arbitration and a dispute over repair and maintenance had been referred to an architect for determination.

Mr Ahern said the Minister for Sport had described the capital expenditure on the centre as value for money “and I fully agree with him”.

When Mr Kenny asked who was responsible for the roof being blown off the building, the Taoiseach replied: “The wind”. He said: “I am hugely powerful but I do not organise that”.

The Fine Gael leader said that the same wind blew over a lot of other roofs at the same time and “none of those blew off”, but Mr Ahern said the freak storm in January this year damaged a large number of buildings in the area, uprooted 200-year-old trees and hit the centre.

“Our primary concern at all times must be to protect the taxpayers’ investment and that is what we are doing.”

More very dodgy sounding dealings from Poland:

Poland’s first lady, Jolanta Kwasniewska, has told a parliamentary inquiry that Marek Dochnal, who claims he arranged a $1 million bribe on behalf of CRH, introduced her to the company in 1997.

CRH, which denies the bribery allegations, has said its only contact with Mr Dochnal was in relation to the purchase of his company’s stake in a holding company prior to the privatisation of a Polish cement plant in 1995.

Mrs Kwasniewska said Mr Dochnal was instrumental in arranging a meeting at which CRH agreed to give 500,000 zloties (€125,000) to her charity, Communication without Barriers, the biggest single donation it received in 1997.

“I’m certain that Mr Dochnal’s conversations with that firm were very significant. I wouldn’t have met CRH, were it not for the previous conversation with Mr Dochnal I’ve got here a letter from CRH, where this company points to Mr Dochnal as the organiser.”

Mrs Kwasniewska said CRH suggested that Mr Dochnal help to arrange her official programme during a visit to Ireland in 1997 with her husband, President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

“CRH, an Irish company, which took part in the privatisation of the Ozarow cement factory in 1995, introduced Mr Dochnal to me as somebody who could arrange certain details concerning our meeting before our official visit,” she said.

The inquiry heard further details of Mr Dochnal’s allegation that he bribed Poland’s former privatisation minister, Wieslaw Kaczmarek, on behalf of CRH.

I wonder what this investigation will turn up…but I have a feeling it will be very little:

The Comptroller and Auditor General John Purcell is to investigate the cost implications to the Exchequer relating to the recent controversies at the €62 million National Aquatic Centre.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he no longer stands over previous claims that the company which won the contract to operate the National Aquatic Centre was a company of international standing.

He made his comment in the Dail following questions on the ongoing controversy surrounding the centre which is the subject of a bitter legal dispute between the current operators of the centre, Dublin Waterworld, and the State company which controls the State-owned facility, Campus Stadium Ireland Development (CSID).

Mr Ahern also claimed that reports of major leaks and cracks at the centre were “red herrings”.

CSID is suing the operators, Dublin Waterworld, for control of the centre, claiming it has failed to comply with its contract on a number of basic issues, such as paying rent and maintaining the facility. Dublin Waterworld is countersuing on claims it owes more than €10 million in VAT, and has also raised issues about the alleged leaks and quality of the building.

Very very dodgy, and what is interesting about this is that we all knew it sounded odd back when the contract was awarded.

A High Court judge has said it is “difficult to see” how €4.5 million could have been paid for unspecified services to a subsidiary of the company that secured the contract for the National Aquatic Centre during a time when the parent company was in rent arrears of some €1 million.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly made the comment after senior counsel Denis McDonald, for Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited (CSID), said he was concerned that the situation regarding management of the €62 million centre at Abbotstown was growing “murkier and murkier”.

CSID, whose shareholding is held by the Taoiseach and two Government Ministers, in 2003 awarded the contract for the State facility to Dublin Waterworld Limited (DWL).

Interesting stuff coming out of Poland, and a denial from CRH:

A Polish businessman has told a parliamentary inquiry that he paid a bribe of almost $1 million (€827,000) on behalf of CRH, Ireland’s biggest company, to a Polish government minister.

Marek Dochnal, who is in prison awaiting trial on a separate bribery charge, told the inquiry he paid most of the sum to a former minister for privatisation, Wieslaw Kaczmarek, in connection with the privatisation of a cement plant at Ozarow, in central Poland, in 1995.

Mr Dochnal said he paid Mr Kaczmarek between $600,000 and $700,000 in cash through an intermediary and transferred a further $250,000 to a Swiss bank account.

A spokesman for CRH, a building materials firm, said the company was unaware of the allegations. “If the allegations were made, they are absolutely without foundation.”