Aquatic centre case told of cash difficulty

Before the lease for the €62 million National Aquatic Centre in Dublin was granted, a difficulty arose about Waterworld UK (WUK) being able to show it had cash at hand to enable it enter into a contract to operate the centre, a court heard yesterday.

WUK, whose directors were named as Roger Curry, Kieran Rutledge and Liam Bohan, were part of the consortium chosen after a public competition to build and operate the centre, the High Court was told.

It intended thereafter to set up a special purpose vehicle, which became Dublin Waterworld Ltd (DWL), to operate the centre. However, after heads of agreement were signed, a difficulty arose about WUK being able to show it had cash at hand to enable it to enter into the contract, said Una Carmody, who had responsibility for co-ordinating the competition which led to the award of the contract for the aquatic centre.

From 2000 Ms Carmody, now a director of the Helix Theatre, was working with Laura Magahy and Associates as part of a team providing services to Campus Stadium Ireland Development Ltd (CSID), the State company set up in 2000 to arrange for and finance the building and operation of the aquatic centre.

She was giving evidence in the continuing action by CSID for forfeiture of the lease to operate the centre, which was granted to DWL on April 30th, 2003.

CSID alleges multiple breaches of the terms of the lease and claims that DWL assigned beneficial ownership of the lease later on April 30th, 2003 to Limerick businessman Pat Mulcair who also allegedly the same day put in place an arrangement whereby Dublin Waterworld Management Ltd (DWML), a wholly owned subsidiary of DWL, would manage the centre for Mr Mulcair. DWL denies the claims.

Yesterday, Ms Carmody said eight consortiums expressed interest in the contract for the aquatic centre and bids were assessed in December 2000 by a panel convened by CSID.

After further evaluation, CSID opened negotiations, as the preferred bidder, with a consortium involving WUK and Rohcon.

Ms Carmody said that after Price Waterhouse Coopers had looked at the financial standing of all the bids, WUK was either unwilling or unable to provide evidence of financial ability to enter into a contract of this size. A difficulty arose after the signing of heads of agreement.

It became clear WUK would not be able to comply with its financial requirements. John Moriarty came into the picture sometime from February 2001 to provide financial backing.

The case resumes on Tuesday.