Mr Paddy Teahon said last night he had agreed to step aside as chairman and chief executive of Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Ltd "in the interests of the project". While departing from the post of chairman and chief executive of CSID, he is to remain on the development board.
Speaking to reporters as he arrived for a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee, which is inquiring into the controversial handling of contracts for building and running a €62 million national aquatic centre at Abbotstown, Co Dublin, by CSID, Mr Teahon said: "The proposition was put to me. I thought about it and I said I agree to this in the interests of the project".
He added: "I believe that the Sports Campus Ireland Project and the pool at Abbotstown are really great projects and in the years to come Irish people will be proud of seeing these for themselves and the contribution of the people who made them happen".
He said he had spoken to the Taoiseach a number of times in recent days, but the content of their conversations would remain private. Asked if they were still friends he replied: "Absolutely".
Mr Teahon said he wanted to thank all the people across the State who had been supportive of him in recent days and weeks. "I was both surprised and hugely delighted at the level and the extent of the support," he said.
When Ms Laura Magahy of Magahy & Co, the firm awarded the contract to provide executive services for the entire CSID project, was contacted for her reaction to the publication of the Attorney General's report last night, she issued a statement through a public relations consultant, Mr Fergus Finlay. He said he was speaking on behalf of the executive services team led by Ms Magahy.
"We have received the report. We are going to study it carefully," he said. "Our prime motivation at this stage is to get the project back on track and completed on time without any further controversy."
Mr Kieran Ruttledge, a shareholder in Dublin Waterworld, the company awarded a 30-year contract to run the National Aquatic Centre, said early yesterday he believed it would be "disastrous for all involved and it would be a disaster for the country" if Mr Teahon was to depart from the project.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Ruttledge, who is chief executive of Tralee Aquadome, said he felt no heads should have to roll at all over the affair. He believed Mr Teahon had done nothing wrong.