A GROUP of sub-contractors staged a protest in Kilkenny yesterday, claiming they had not been paid for work on a new municipal swimming pool and leisure centre.
They said they were owed some €200,000 for services provided during the building of The Watershed, a €20 million facility developed by Kilkenny local authorities, which opened last year.
Personnel from the companies, including Limerick-based Clancy Electrical (Contracts) Ltd mounted pickets outside the complex and at Kilkenny County Council offices. Terry Clancy said his company was owed €71,000 and that “withholding payment of such significant sums for over 18 months could be the death knell for some of the companies”.
Payment has been withheld because of an ongoing dispute between Kilkenny County Council and the main contractor, Glenman Corporation, a Galway-based construction company, and Dublin-based Holohan architects.
The Watershed was forced to close for 10 weeks shortly after it opened early last year when members of the public complained that the tiles around the swimming pool were slippery. New non-slip tiles were installed. The dispute centres on who is liable to pay the costs, estimated at over €350,000.
Yesterday Kilkenny local authorities referred inquiries to Dermot Gaynor, chief executive of the company that runs The Watershed on their behalf. Mr Gaynor said the dispute was the subject of a continuing “conciliation process” but he was “not in a position to deal directly with any issues raised by the subcontractors”. He said he hoped to meet the main contractor and architects later this month.
