A € 5.6 million heritage centre that was opened by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, just over two years ago is now fighting for its very existence.
The future of the Excel Centre in Tipperary town is under threat since a crisis meeting was called in January to spell out its bleak financial situation.
But the threat of closure has loomed even closer in the past week since Clancy Construction, the company involved in the building of the centre, entered a petition to the High Court to wind up Tipperary Excel Heritage Company Ltd for the non-payment of € 680,525, which is part of an overall debt of € 1,046,963 which is owed to the company.
The petition is due to be heard by the High Court next Monday.
Clancy Construction, based in Drangan, Tipperary, says it regrets that it is left with no alternative but to issue proceedings against the Heritage Company.
Clancy Construction believes that the debts owed are an unfair burden that it should no longer have to carry.
The company says that while it has been made aware that the centre has been under-funded, the payments relate to work that was carried out more than two years ago.
Clancy Construction is now calling on "the Tipperary Excel Heritage Company, the local authority and the Government to honour their commitments and discharge this debt, so as to prevent both the closure of the Excel complex, which is an excellent, well-run and viable facility, and the liquidation of the Excel company".
Contracts for the construction of the Excel were signed before Christmas of 1999, and work started in January of 2000 after more than 10 years of planning and fundraising.
The work was completed in March 2001, and on May 4th of the same year the Taoiseach arrived to perform the official opening of the centre that includes a theatre, a cinema, an art gallery and an interpretative centre.
Some 25 full-time staff are employed there.
In a brief statement released this week, the Excel board of directors, management and staff have requested people to continue their support of the Excel, while thanking the community for its support to date.
The board of directors said that a further statement would be made once the High Court made a ruling on the petition on Monday.
The closure of the Excel would come as another bombshell to a town that is still reeling from the announcement on March 6th last that Pall Ireland was closing its medical division with the loss of 150 jobs.
That was the latest in a line of industrial setbacks suffered by Tipperary town and west Tipperary that have included NAMCO, Tambrands, Mass Mutual, Atari, 7-Up and Kiely's.
The difficulties in which the Excel now finds itself have brought a stinging rebuke of the Government by South Tipperary Fine Gael TD Mr Tom Hayes.
Expressing his disappointment at this major blow to the project, he stated this week that the Government should now be asked why it had failed to properly fund the Centre.
The recently-elected Mayor of Tipperary, Fianna Fáil's Cllr Gerry Cronin, said it was very sad it had come to this because the Excel had been a great asset to the town.
He said that such a community spirit and effort had been invested into the opening of the centre that its closure could dampen that spirit for a long time to come.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for South Tipperary County Council has confirmed that it guaranteed loans to the Excel of £2.3 million in late 2000/early 2001.
The council had also this year committed and paid € 90,000 in a loan repayment to the banks.