A director of the company operating the €62 million National Aquatic Centre has told the High Court there was a near fatality at the centre because of the nature of building works by the contractor Rohcon.
Liam Bohan said Dublin Waterworld Ltd (DWL), which was part of a consortium with Rohcon that secured the contract to build and operate the centre at Abbotstown in Co Dublin, said the building remained incomplete and his company still has issues relating to several matters.
These included the roof of the centre, which had to be replaced after a storm early this year; and the first floor, which had dropped into the plant room and had to be propped with supports, he said.
There were also water, energy loss and repair issues, he added, in addition to the defective nature of the building.
Mr Bohan said DWL also had a situation where they "nearly had a fatality" because Rohcon had not properly completed certain construction works.
Senior counsel Denis McDonald, for Campus Stadium Ireland Development Ltd (CSID), the State company which awarded the contract to the consortium and which is seeking forfeiture of the lease from DWL, said Rohcon was not a party to the proceedings before Mr Justice Paul Gilligan and did not have an opportunity to counter Mr Bohan's evidence.
That evidence was designed to give a damaging impression of the aquatic centre and was directly related to a counterclaim that DWL had chosen not to bring on for hearing, Mr McDonald argued.
DWL's senior counsel, Hugh O'Neill, said his client had not had sufficient time to bring their counterclaim, as it involved the commissioning of a number of significant reports relating to the aquatic centre.
DWL is opposing the application against it for forfeiture for alleged multiple breaches of the lease of April 30th, 2003.
Campus Stadium Ireland claims that, on the same day it awarded the lease to DWL, that company, unknown to CSID, assigned beneficial ownership of the lease to Limerick businessman Pat Mulcair who, also that same day, entered into an arrangement with Dublin Waterworld Management Ltd (DWML), a wholly owned subsidiary of DWL, to manage the aquatic centre on his behalf.
In his evidence yesterday, Mr Bohan, a former international swimmer and coach with many years' experience of leisure centre management, said he was unaware CSID had an issue with DWML managing the centre.
The people involved with DWML were the same as those involved with DWL. He, Kieran Rutledge and John Moriarty were directors of both companies and were prepared to transfer back to DWL the lease, assets and liabilities.
Neither he nor Mr Rutledge nor Mr Moriarty were ever directors or shareholders of Waterworld UK, a company initially involved with the Rohcon consortium that secured the contract but which dropped out after it was unable to secure financial guarantees from its US parent company.
The hearing continues today.
