Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The Minister knows my views on this facility. In 2007, the centre received a subsidy of €1.8 million, in 2008 it received a subsidy of €1 million and there is an overhang rates bill of €600,000 that has not been paid and is due. I discovered since we spoke about this last that as a result of a benchmarking process, the centre is entitled to an annual subsidy of €1 million, so I presume it is built into the budget for the coming year and thereafter.

It is somewhat convenient that after the event we have discovered that a subsidy will be required. The centre was built on the basis in the PricewaterhouseCoopers feasibility study that there would be an operating profit of between €500,000 and just over €2 million annually. Did PricewaterhouseCoopers do the benchmarking or was it some other body? Will it be sued for the bad advice given or is there any comeback now that we have built this facility?

I do not know what the centre was benchmarked against but in Abbotstown there is a leisure facility as well as the 50 metre pool in addition to the other facilities. It is a wonderful centre but I have visited it at peak times and there were approximately 30 people in the water. It is grossly under-used, which makes me think it is being grossly mismanaged. The Minister must act on this. While I do not want to criticise him, there is a serious problem at the National Aquatic Centre.

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