Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

One of the water slides in the national aquatic centre is called the dark hole. I reckon the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, wishes he could climb into that dark hole and hide while somebody competent sorts out the mess in the €62 million centre.

This week's revelation that the national aquatic centre is losing 5 million litres of water a month have really proven to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Can the Minister substantiate reports that substantial cracking is visible on both floors of the centre's underground plant room and that more than 20 large cracks have appeared? Can he substantiate reports that design flaws make it difficult to maintain the pool's plant equipment? Is it true that the centrepiece of the national aquatic centre, the 50m competition pool, is open for a mere four hours in the morning from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.?

The Minister boasted to me previously that the national aquatic centre was completed within the time schedule set for it and within the budget of €70 million. Would he make the same argument if a builder built his home ahead of schedule and within budget only for the house to fall apart within two years? Somehow I doubt it. Will the Minister publish a detailed analysis of how the €62 million cost of the centre was arrived at, how much was spent on consultant and project management and how much on actual building and design and to which individuals and companies payments were made?

It has become apparent that the problems with the national aquatic centre are not only structural but that it is mired in a range of legal, contractual and financial difficulties. Court reports of Dublin Waterworld making payments of €4.5 million for unspecified services to a subsidiary of the company that secured the contract for the national aquatic centre during a time when the parent company was in rent arrears of €1 million beggar belief. Did the Government really hand over a State asset costing €62 million to a company with a share capital of €127 originally registered in the British Virgin Islands, a well-known tax haven?

Will the Minister publish the details of the contract between CSID and Dublin Waterworld and any other companies associated with it? In March, the Minister advised me, "The concept of the National Aquatic Centre has been developed with a clear emphasis on commercial viability. The intention was that once built the facility would be a self-sustaining venture." These words are coming back to haunt him now.

Even more scary than what has happened already to the national aquatic centre is the fact that the Government proposes to use this public private partnership-design build and operate procedure as a template for future substantial capital investments, including the national conference centre, about which we just heard, and the building of offices for decentralisation. Using this unique form of Government management of taxpayers' money, no doubt the cost of decentralisation will easily top €2 billion as this Government has lost the plot in regard to its capacity to manage infrastructural development.

Even the Progressive Democrats are jumping ship and are criticising the national aquatic centre. The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, said of the crisis that he was more than a little concerned when we were spending more on lawyers rather than on architects. For once the Progressive Democrats maths add up in that spending more on lawyers and less on architects equals a broken roof and a cracked pool.

Another of the water slides in the national aquatic centre is called the master blaster. The masters of the national aquatic centre, the Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, and the Taoiseach, Bertie the Bather, have well and truly been blasted.

We need an independent report into the project and the publication of the report carried out by the independent engineers into the damage to the roof. Some 60 employees were laid off for five months. In the two years of its life, the centre has been closed for five months and water sports have been badly damaged.

The national aquatic centre is the Taoiseach's pet project — stage one of Abbotstown. The Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, and the Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, are shareholders in CSID on behalf of taxpayers. They must come out of hiding and take responsibility. The Comptroller and Auditor General advised me on 31 March that "these matters will be examined during the course of my audit of the accounts of CSID Limited." I hope the Comptroller and Auditor General will proceed to examine this saga as soon as possible to prevent further waste of taxpayers' money.

During the 2002 general election, the Progressive Democrats in Dublin West had a campaign button calling on voters to flush the Bertie Bowl down the drain. It is the taxpayers' money that is being flushed down the drain.

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