Bertie Ahern's recurring nightmare came back again yesterday when the High Court ordered Dublin Waterworld, the company that runs the €62 million national aquatic centre, to hand its keys back to the State.
Beyond a litany of bad news from the centre at Abbotstown in west Dublin, the Taoiseach has little enough to show from the "Bertie Bowl" project he sponsored with such gusto after his arrival in Government Buildings.
Dublin Waterworld may yet challenge the High Court ruling in the Supreme Court, but already the company's name is synonymous with a stadium project that never lived up to the promise of its fanfare publicity.
This company never sought the contract to run the centre when it was tendered by Campus & Stadium Ireland Development (CSID), a State body. It entered the frame as winner of the rights and obligations of the contract only after a shelf company called Waterworld UK, which was originally selected to run the centre, pulled out of the deal.
The political storm around that prompted Bertie Ahern and Tánaiste Mary Harney to remove one of his closest aides, Paddy Teahon, from the leadership of CSID. In spite of all that, CSID maintains the contract was properly awarded.
But if Bertie ever thought that would be the end of the affair, he was wrong. Not only did the roof blow off the centre last year, but CSID moved to end the deal with Dublin Waterworld over its alleged breach of contract. Reports of leaks and other structural defects in the centre were duly denied.
Only in court did it emerge that the company had secretly transferred ownership of its lease to Limerick businessman Pat Mulcair, owner of the Roadbridge building company. According to John Moriarty, controlling shareholder in Dublin Waterworld, the funding arrangement with Mr Mulcair was a tax-driven deal. Capital allowances of €2.8 million per year were envisaged.
No surprise then that Labour TD Joan Burton wants the Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue to "clarify" how the lease was transferred. Fine Gael TD Jimmy Deenihan maintained that "major structural defects" at the centre have never been corrected.
CSID chief executive Donagh Morgan said the reports about defects were found to be "without substance". The centre will remain open and its staff will remain in place while the matter of legals costs and a possible Dublin Waterworld appeal is decided. In due course, a new operating company will be selected to run the centre with its existing staff.
The Taoiseach must never have expected all this from his own pet project.
