The Taoiseach has wasted public money on a failed leisure centre in Co Kerry despite being warned of potential difficulties in the project, according to Fine Gael.
A marine leisure centre near Kenmare received €330,000 in grant aid with the assistance of the Taoiseach but the centre was later demolished because it was not compliant with the terms of its planning permission, TG4 reported today.
Mr Ahern had been warned there may be a problem with the project by a senior official in the Department of the Marine before the grant was paid, the TV station said.
The grant was made under the National Development Plan in December 2000 after lobbying from Kerry South Independent TD, Mr Jackie Healy-Rae.
Mr Healy-Rae sent a letter to the Taoiseach's office which was then passed on to the Department of the Marine. But senior civil servants at the department were concerned that proper funding procedures were not in place for the development.
The aid was allocated after a memo from a Department of Marine assistant secretary said representations had been received from the Taoiseach.
The grant was made during the lifetime of the last government when the independent TDs supported the Fianna Fáil-led minority government.
Over €300,000 of the €752,000 grant was drawn down to construct the canoe and sail training centre with associated facilities at a pier on the Kenmare River.
Work on the centre began in 2001 but it was demolished last month after Kerry Council found it to be in contravention of planning guidelines. TG4 said the promoters, headed by a local seafood trader, still hope to complete the project and would be drawing on the remainder of the grant next month.
Fine Gael's marine spokesman, Mr Simon Coveney said the Taoiseach was responsible for the "waste" of the money and there was a "party political dimension" to the affair because of his involvement.
He said the failure by the Department to properly monitor the project "raises some very serious questions".
"Was this failure due to the initial pressure applied in support of the grant?"
"When one realises that the project was a priority of a local Independent TD, on whom the Government relied for its majority, it suggests that purely political considerations were at the heart of this decision.
"Once more, a Fianna Fáil Taoiseach is exposed putting his party's interest ahead of the public and taxpayers," Mr Coveney said.