A High Court judge has directed that the operators of the National Aquatic Centre be given a further opportunity this morning to be represented at a hearing to address claims that they have hampered attempts by the centre's owner and builder to inspect alleged substantial defects in the structure.
The owner, Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Ltd (CSID), had made an urgent application before Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday morning for an order which would allow further inspections to take place.
The judge was told inspectors had insufficient time to complete their inspection in recent days and were denied further access.
The judge adjourned the matter to yesterday afternoon to allow Dublin Waterworld Ltd (DWL), operators of the centre, be informed of the Campus application. When he sat again at 3pm, Hugh O'Keeffe, for CSID, said two letters had been received from solicitors acting on behalf of Waterworld. Those letters purported to set out the sequence of events regarding the inspections.
The letters also asked that the matter be adjourned to Monday. They said DWL required sufficient notice of inspections and that delays by CSID in responding to letters from lawyers for DWL had affected the timing of inspections. DWL had sought further details about the nature of the inspections and of the personnel who would carry them out.
The judge was also informed by the letters that DWL's solicitors were Cork-based and their counsel was not available at this time. A Dublin agent for the Cork solicitors, who attended in court yesterday afternoon, said she had no knowledge of the matters involved in the proceedings.
Mr O'Keeffe said that as owner of the centre Campus had "an unanswerable right" to access it. His client contended the lease was forfeit but even if DWL was tenant of the centre, it had been given the 48 hours notice of inspection required under the lease.
Mr Justice Kelly said that, while he would not adjourn the matter to Monday, he would adjourn it to this morning. He was mindful that DWL's solicitors were based in Cork. He also noted the motion from CSID for an order providing for inspections was very general, and asked that Campus solicitors write a letter setting out the extent of the inspection facilities sought.
Earlier, Mr O'Keeffe said the application was urgent because his clients were being hampered in a most extreme manner from gaining access to examine the alleged defects. Initially, access was refused point blank to CSID and the centre's builder Rohcon by operators DWL, and then qualified access was permitted.
It appeared that on July 3rd access was again refused, even though 48 hours' notice was given, as required under the lease. In any event, his client contended the lease was forfeit.
He said that, under threat of coming back before the court, access was permitted on July 4th. This access took place during "unoperational hours" at night by Rohcon representatives and revealed no evidence of any significant leaking or defects alleged. However, when further access was sought yesterday with the agreement of a director of DWL, so that tests would continue during non-operational hours, it was again refused.
Mr O'Keeffe said the landlord was in the position of having been hampered or refused access on three occasions in the face of allegations by DWL that it has a building which is seriously defective and in need of urgent repairs. The owners denied those matters while seeking to investigate them.