Concerns about aspects of the national aquatic centre contract were expressed by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Office of Public Works and three Government departments, the Public Accounts Committee heard.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, told the Committee he was asked by the Department of Finance in April last year to examine the files.
He found that the aquatic centre proposal was drawn up on the basis that it would require a €38 million (£30m) capital grant from the exchequer but it was clear that this contribution would have to increase to €61.5 million (£48.4m).
This raised doubts about the reliability of the information relied upon by Government in making its decision in July 2000 to include the aquatic centre in the Stadium Ireland campus, he said.
Mr Purcell was also concerned that the lowest bid for the contract offered a private contribution of just €634,000. "It was far from the public-private arrangement originally envisaged," he said.
The transfer of risk to the private company which was a normal feature of such arrangements was "practically non-existent", he said.
Mr Purcell was unhappy with the principle of one person, in this case Mr Paddy Teahon, holding both positions of chairman and chief executive of Campus and Stadium Ireland (CSID).
The OPW chairman, Mr Barry Murphy, said he also had concerns about the cost of the project, the exposure of the Government to financial risk and a lack of clarity over "executive services" to be provided to the campus project.
