Cost overruns of up to 600 per cent on swimming pools were due to delays in the completion of the projects and increased public expectations of leisure facilities, the Public Accounts Committee has heard, Roddy O'Sullivan reports.
The committee yesterday questioned officials from the Department of the Environment and Local Government on swimming pool projects in Fermoy, Cavan, Ballyshannon and Mallow, which ended up costing between three and six times the original estimate.
The pool project in Mallow, Co Cork, estimated to cost £300,000 in March 1988, ended up costing £1,851,266 by the time it was completed in October 1995. A similar discrepancy was evident in a pool built in Fermoy, which cost £1,738,592 to construct, compared to an original estimate of £287,750.
The Secretary General of the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Mr Jimmy Farrelly, said the projects had originally been envisaged as providing very basic pools. However, the public expected more from such facilities in recent years and as a result, children's pools, saunas, cafes and - in the case of Cavan - a jacuzzi had been provided.
Such facilities "wouldn't have been allowed" by the Department before 1993 and therefore were not taken into account in the original estimates. However, there was a clear need for new guidelines for local authorities on the construction of swimming pools and work on these guidelines is at an advanced stage.
Mr Sean Doherty TD expressed concern that up to 15 per cent of the total cost of building the four pools was accounted for by design and supervisory fees.