The Attorney General's report on the aquatic centre provides a rare insight into the working of the Cabinet, writes Mark Hennessy.
For five years Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats managed to sort out their frequent differences before the problems reached the weekly meeting of the Cabinet in Government Buildings every Tuesday morning.
However, the gathering on December 19th last was very different. Then, the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Dr McDaid, requested colleagues to agree to proceed with the development of the £53 million (€67.3 million) aquatic centre on the Abbotstown site.
The issue was pressing. Privately the building company, Rohcon, had begun to warn quietly that it would stop building the centre at the end of January unless it got a fully signed contract.
The potential embarrassment for Ireland was huge. The aquatic centre must be in place by early next year if the 2003 Special Olympics, one of the world's biggest sporting events, were to go ahead.
Effectively, the Cabinet - which it now turns out was left badly out of the information loop on a number of key points by the Campus Stadium Ireland executive chairman, Paddy Teahon - decided to close its eyes and jump in at the deep end.
A Cabinet memorandum released yesterday along with Michael McDowell's report displayed the concerns held then by the AG, McDaid, the Tánaiste, Mary Harney, and the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy.
Such Cabinet papers rarely enter the public domain. During the lifetime of this Government they have even more rarely noted such strong expressions of concern from the Tánaiste, Government sources said yesterday. Campus Stadium Ireland believed the contract with Waterworld/Rohcon/S&P Architects "represented the best available commercial deal", Mr McDaid told the Cabinet.
"CSID has therefore requested sanction to execute the documents, as their board is concerned that CSID would not be exposed to risk as a consequence of not having signed a contract," he wrote.
LATER in the memorandum, the Attorney General pointedly warned that the State could be legally at risk for millions in compensation, regardless of what decision Ministers made at the meeting. "A decision not to grant Dublin Waterworld a contract might also be interpreted as a public acknowledgment that the process was flawed and invite litigation," he wrote.
Even with the knowledge that she had, Harney was deeply worried that the aquatic centre's design-build-finance-operate-and-maintain contract left the Exchequer open to a considerable degree of risk. "She notes that there has been a considerable expenditure without the benefit of contracts and she is disturbed by the parallel situations that the State could be liable to damages if the contract is awarded and could be similarly liable if the contract does not proceed," according to McDaid.
The departure of Teahon will, the Government hopes, bring the issue to an end, but that is hardly likely since problems surrounding the National Stadium project have stubbornly refused to go away.
To considerable sighs of relief from the Cabinet, Teahon will step aside as executive chairman, but remain as a member of the board without any executive function. His lack of executive power soothes the Progressive Democrats. Last week they had made it clear that they could not accept that he would remain in charge of the levers of power.
In a statement, the Government attempted to pour oil on his wounds, describing him as a person of outstanding integrity who has done much for the country, particularly on the Belfast Agreement. "That same commitment is evident in his efforts to ensure that the challenging target set by the Government of having an aquatic centre available in time for the Special Olympics," it went on.
Up to early morning there was still doubt that the combative Teahon would agree to resign. The presence of barrister Dermot Gleeson at his side was noted in high quarters.
Last week top civil servants remained glued to their seats as they watched a discomforted Teahon being grilled by the Public Accounts Committee. "Sure, there was some sympathy for him. But this whole thing has traumatised the whole Civil Service. The entire system depends on confidence being maintained in the information that is given to Cabinet," said one source.
In the end, Teahon departed quietly. His survival on the board will be used to argue that he should be left in charge of another of the Taoiseach's pet projects, the Digital Hub in Dublin's Liberties.
However, the Opposition will not let it rest. For Fine Gael, the issue is simple. Kerry-born Teahon, a former secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach, had loyally served Bertie Ahern's Abbotstown ambitions and got shafted when the going got tough. Describing Teahon as "a fall guy", Fine Gael TD Charles Flanagan said: "Statements of remorse over Mr Teahon's departure are an exercise in hypocrisy punctuated by massive sighs of relief."
For now, the Government will use the Special Olympics to defend its failure to act earlier. "It is really a question of whether you'd hit me with the Special Olympics in my arms," said one Fine Gael TD.
Yesterday Ministers swore they would have done things differently if they had had better information earlier. However, the excuse does not wash. Warning bells had sounded for months. Unhappy at being left out of the loop, the Office of Public Works had pulled out of the project, but Ahern, who remained resolutely focused on the bigger picture, ignored its directly expressed grumbles.
Experienced in the ways of the Civil Service mandarins, Paddy Teahon, a tough and effective operator, was allowed by the system to acquire an extraordinary degree of independence.
Both he and the project's reputation have now paid a heavy price.
• Mark Hennessy is a political reporter with The Irish Times