National Sports Campus Costs Examined

The Committee of Public Accounts will examine the affairs of the National Sports Campus at a meeting today.

The Committee will investigate how the public authority in charge of developing and running the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown found itself on the losing side in Supreme Court cases on two occasions recently. It will also consider reviews that have been undertaken of these cases so that lessons can be learned for the future.

Chairman of the Committee, John McGuinness, TD said: “The loss of the two cases by the State in the Supreme Court raises disturbing issues as ultimately the taxpayer is the loser. I accept that these cases have dragged though the Courts for almost a decade, and that we are now to an extent dealing with legacy issues. However, we must review the legal strategy employed by the State as, in one case, it could be argued that it should not have pursued the case as even a positive outcome would have resulted in no net benefit to State.

"Some of the costs arising from these court battles have still to be settled and we will want to see what reviews have taken place so that we avoid making similar mistakes in the future. Likewise, in the second case, which was a procurement issue, we need to know how, when the State has a long history of managing major projects, it was ultimately exposed to claims from unsuccessful bidders.”

At its meeting tomorrow the Committee will also look at the controls that govern the use of funds allocated to sporting bodies under the Sports Capital Programme.

Deputy McGuinness said: “In a small number of cases it appears that the grant was not used for the purpose it was intended and the Committee will want to see how the oversight of the programme has been tightened up so as to avoid these errors happening in the future.”

(GK)