About £26 million (€33 million) in EU aid for the building of the national convention centre in Dublin has been released by the European Commission.

The Commission yesterday formally approved the closure of files on complaints against the tendering system on the centre, allowing structural funding to go ahead as previously agreed. The directorate for the Internal Market (DG15) found that the last of three controversial tendering procedures was not in breach of EU public procurement rules.

The centre in Spencer Dock in Dublin's Docklands, expected to cost £115 million, is already under way, although EU funding is understood to be crucial to its viability. The opening is scheduled for January 2001.

The national convention centre will include a conference and exhibition centre to accommodate up to 3,000 people, two hotels, 140,000 sq. ft of retail space, 1.3 million sq. ft of office space, car parking for 1,500 vehicles and 1 million sq. ft of apartments and housing. There will also be a public park, with Dublin Corporation committed to building a new bridge over the Liffey.

US-based Irish architect Mr Kevin Roche designed the centre. But tax designation for the project remains unresolved, said a spokesman for the Spencer Dock group. He said clarification on the issue was awaited from the EU Commission, which last year began reviewing all property tax reliefs in the Docklands and the IFSC.

Mr Richard Barrett, a director of Treasury Holdings, the majority shareholder in the Spencer Dock consortium, has previously stated that if the EU Commission withdraws the reliefs, the Government should provide "compensatory reliefs".

The project and its decade-long gestation has been marked by court challenges and complaints to the EU, from the winning group, Spencer Dock International Convention Centre, and from groups that wanted the centre built elsewhere, either at the RDS in Ballsbridge or on a derelict site in O'Connell Street.

The Government put the project to tender on three occasions. The first came to nothing and was followed in 1995 by a second, which was aborted by the Minister for Tourism, Mr McDaid. Final adjudication was made after complaints had been lodged with the Commission.

DGI5 endorsed that decision. It reported yesterday that "the examination of the file showed that the Irish authorities shared the interpretation of the notion of inappropriate tenders, and that all of the tenders, including the subsequently winning one, were found to contain flaws which the contracting authorities considered inappropriate".

The third tender process fulfilled directive requirements, DG15 found.

Spencer Dock International is a subsidiary of Spencer Dock Development Co, which is two-thirds owned by Treasury Holdings and one third by Mr Harry Crosbie, the owner of the Point Depot. Treasury Holdings is a major property developer in Dublin and Britain, and is jointly owned by Mr John Ronan and Mr Barrett.

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce said it was imperative that the convention centre was advanced through the planning process without further delay. "The city has been losing almost £30 million per year while this project has been delayed," said Mr Hugh Governey, the chamber's president.