The company which signed heads of agreement to run the National Aquatic Centre should not have been eligible to enter the competition, an unsuccessful rival bidder claimed yesterday.
But while Dublin International Arena Ltd (DIAL) believed it could challenge the award process in the courts, a consortium member Mr Jonathan Irwin said it did not want to sue the State over the stewardship by Campus and Stadium Ireland Development (CSID) of the competition.
In addition, it emerged yesterday that Ms Laura Magahy, the principal figure in CSID's executive services company Magahy and Co, will be asked to appear before the Dáil Public Accounts Committee next week.
The comany's executive services contract has been questioned by the State's official auditor, Mr John Purcell, who has described it as "novel".
The secretary general at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Ms Margaret Hayes, told the committee yesterday that Ms Magahy shared concern about the "perception" of the contract in seeking to change its terms last April. The CSID board has yet to endorse revised terms for the contract.
Mr Irwin referred to the report into the affair by the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, and said CSID had not been told relevant information about the status of the dormant company, Waterworld UK, which signed the heads of agreement.
Citing claims made about Waterworld UK by S&P Architects and its original bid partner, Multi Development Corporation NV, the report said attempts had been made to foster in the mind of CSID "the impression that the company was itself a leading water-park operator with approximately 20 years experience".
Mr McDowell's report avoided discussing whether the EU Procurement Directive was followed during the process "because it would not serve the public interest". But a Memorandum to Government included in annexes to the report said that Mr McDowell's office had advised that Waterworld UK's 5 per cent shareholding in the operating company Dublin Waterworld "could be deemed to fail to meet bid requirements" if challenged.
The failure of CSID's executive chairman Mr Paddy Teahon to inform the company's board and the Government of the dormancy prompted Mr McDowell's inquiry, resulting in the standing down by the Cabinet of Mr Teahon on Tuesday. Mr Teahon accepted the Cabinet's decision but said he had done nothing wrong.
Mr Irwin claimed DIAL, which itself has never traded, was owed expenses of €254,000 and said the consortium would be "angry" if these were not paid.
The figure was disputed by Mr Teahon who told the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts yesterday that he had agreed to pay expenses of €25,400 for each of the three bidders selected to enter detailed negotiations.
But a senior Department of Finance official, Mr Jim O'Brien, said it was State policy not to offer any payment to bidders in respect of expenses for public tenders. Mr Teahon said he had encountered the practice abroad but added that bidders had not yet been reimbursed for the expenses.
The Government is expected to press ahead with the appointment a full-time chief executive at Digital Media Development, the State company behind plans to create a high-tech enterprise zone in the Thomas Street area of Dublin.
While Mr Teahon is executive chairman of the company, the proposal to split his position was embraced in the Digital Hub Development Agency Bill last January. A Department of Public Enterprise spokesman said he had no comment when asked whether Mr Teahon's appointment as chairman of the company was automatic.
