A High Court judge yesterday ordered the operators of the National Aquatic Centre to facilitate a two-hour inspection of the leisure pool of the centre last night in order to investigate alleged leaks in the pool.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly also directed that the inspection be conducted by representatives of Rohcon, builders of the centre, Kavanagh Mansfield engineers and Europools Ireland Ltd.
The inspection order had been sought by Campus Stadium Ireland Development Ltd, owners of the centre and the company which in 2003 allocated a long-term lease for operation of the premises to Dublin Waterworld Ltd. Because of a number of alleged breaches of the lease, CSID claims that lease is now forfeit and is seeking in court proceedings an order for possession of the pool.
Those proceedings will come before the High Court on Monday next for case management purposes.
On Tuesday, CSID applied for an order to allow further inspections of the centre take place. Hugh O'Keeffe, for CSID, claimed attempts by the centre's builders and others to carry out inspections had been hampered.
It was claimed CSID, the landlord of the premises, had been hampered or refused access on three occasions in the face of allegations by Dublin Waterworld that it has a building which is seriously defective and in need of urgent repairs. CSID denied those matters and was seeking to investigate them.
Mr Justice Kelly adjourned the matter to Tuesday afternoon and ultimately to yesterday morning to allow Dublin Waterworld, whose solicitors are based in Cork, an opportunity to be represented.
Yesterday, Mr O'Keeffe said his solicitor had received a letter on behalf of Dublin Waterworld stating they would agree to an inspection last night between 9-11pm on condition the motion seeking an order to that effect was struck out with costs to Dublin Waterworld.
Mr O'Keeffe said he was asking the court to make the order for inspection and would be seeking his costs.
Hugh O'Neill SC, for Dublin Waterworld, asked the judge to make no order, saying it was "absolutely and entirely unnecessary". His client was quite happy for an inspection to take place without conditions and that the costs issue be adjourned so as to allow his side file affidavits as to what had occurred between the parties regarding inspections.
He said Dublin Waterworld had facilitated an inspection on Monday and another on Tuesday when the inspection team had arrived late, just when the pool was due to open. In those circumstances, that inspection could not proceed. However, instead of consulting Dublin Waterworld, CSID had come rushing into court. Mr O'Keeffe said it was "wholly disingenuous" to suggest the CSID application was premature. He said an appointment for inspection had been curtailed for no reason and entry was also refused.
Mr Justice Kelly said that although it appeared there was now effective consent for the inspection, he would, for the sake of clarity, make an order directing the defendants to facilitate inspection last night between 9-11pm for the purpose of inspecting the leisure pool for alleged leaks.
He said he would address the issue of costs of the application on Monday when he would have affidavits on behalf of Dublin Waterworld.