John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

Various questions have been asked during the past year and prior to that about the National Aquatic Centre. I have answered questions on this subject on numerous occasions. I attach no blame to Deputy O'Shea in that respect. He is entitled to ask any question he wishes. However, I wish to make clear that the National Aquatic Centre is a world class facility which is being enjoyed by tens of thousands of people every year.

The spectre of defects at the centre has been raised on numerous occasions but these allegations which appeared in the media last year about leaks and cracks have all been dealt with. If one takes into account the facts of the report, which was prepared meticulously by experts, it definitively discounted the negative material. For example, a team consisting of Rohcon, the contractor for the centre, and its expert, and CSID and its experts, investigated all these allegations last summer, having had to go to the High Court to gain access to the centre. Public statements of the findings of these experts were made at that time. I will not waste the valuable time of this House by reiterating all those findings. Damage to the roof was incurred due to an unfortunate event that occurred on 1 January 2005. The roof has been fixed and the centre, which was re-opened on 20 May last year, has been operating successfully since then.

This is a world class centre without any question or doubt. It has hosted the Special Olympics and the European short course championships. It is something about which the nation should be proud instead of one about which people should have doubts. I want once again to dispel those doubts.

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