DAIL REPORT: The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, denied that Mr Paddy Teahon had been sacked as executive chairman of Campus & Stadium Ireland Development (CSID).
Mr Ahern told the Labour leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn, that the suggestion was incorrect. "Given that there had been an agreement to split the posts of chairman and chief executive, the Government put it to Mr Teahon that it was not desirable that he should be appointed to the new position of chairperson, especially in the interests of the aquatic centre project which needs to be completed."
He added there was no question of compensation for Mr Teahon. "Mr Teahon received payment for work as chairperson and chief executive, a joint responsibility which one would not normally have, and I am sure that some of that money has yet to be paid."
Mr Teahon, said Mr Ahern, had worked extremely hard on the project and the fact that certain issues were not sufficiently delved into could be attributed to his desire to do the job as speedily as possible.
"If all procedures had been followed to the letter of the law, which is the right thing to do, we would not be in a position to complete the swimming pool in time for the Special Olympics, which would be regretted by all deputies.
"Our attempt to complete the aquatic centre is the relevant issue, although people are asking many other questions in papers which are before the Committee of Public Accounts." Earlier, Mr Michael Noonan accused the Taoiseach of breaching Cabinet instructions in arranging that a memorandum to Government from his Department came from Mr Teahon directly through the private office and on to Cabinet.
"It was the Taoiseach who decided money would be allocated to this without proper Cabinet procedure and it was the Taoiseach, rather than Mr Teahon, who made all the crucial decisions on this. What the Taoiseach is doing now is scapegoating a public servant and trying to pass the blame while walking away from the blame himself."
Mr Quinn asked if Mr Ahern was made aware in discussions with Mr Teahon, before going into Cabinet, of the reservations or concerns that the assessment panel had about the decision.
Mr Ahern replied that the Government had earlier decided it would accept the recommendation made by the board of Stadium Campus Ireland that the two positions of chief executive and chairman would be divided.
"We put it to Mr Teahon, a person of outstanding integrity and commitment in my view and that of the Government, that because of all the controversy related to this, he should remain on the board but not continue in his position as chairperson. We would appoint an interim chairperson.
"Relating to Mr Quinn's questions, none of those issues were raised by Paddy Teahon on that day. They were working to a very tight schedule, which is the reason for a lot of this. They were working to a schedule to try to get into planning by December 22nd or 23rd December 2000 and they were endeavouring to get all the assessment panel work done.
"It appears from the correspondence that they had been told by Pricewaterhouse that there were some difficulties at that time - they were told on that day.
"The papers show that on the day the issues regarding Waterworld UK had arisen. They did not make me aware of those issues . . . I suppose, for clarity, as it was also in the papers for the committee.
"I was responsible for bringing the memorandum to Government, but Mr Teahon attended the Government meeting to bring the Cabinet through the particular meeting." Mr Ahern said that Mr Teahon had attended to answer questions on the memorandum that day, which was not unusual.
While he had attended and answered questions, the Cabinet was not aware of the circumstances relating to Waterworld UK, or the fact it was a shelf company. "That was not necessarily the issue, as there could be many shelf companies. Many businesspeople use shelf companies. More importantly, they did not have the financial backing or the necessary investment and they were not a company of international stand- ing, as we thought.
"Neither Mr Teahon nor CSID knew that either. It was many months later that that became clear and they then had to join with others, when the Tralee-based group was involved."
