Dr Jim McDaid has called for the Board of Campus Stadium Ireland Development to meet tomorrow evening. The Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation wants them to discuss the tendering process for the National Aquatic Centre. He wants them to give him a report on the matter following their meeting.
Dr McDaid said in the Dáil this evening that the contract had been awarded to the Waterworld consortium under the correct European Union guidelines. However, he regretted the bad publicity which he felt could have been avoided.
He said that shelf companies are allowed to be awarded contracts under European Union law. He regretted, however, that the Board of CSID had not informed him that such a company was involved in the aquatic centre contract tendering process. He said that he wanted the Board to review whether they had all the information required when they agreed to that bid.
The Minister said that Waterworld UK's bid was for £48m, which was by far the lowest. The second best bid had been for £60m while the third one was for £71m.
He was commenting on the controversial award of the contract to build the aquatic centre to Waterworld UK. The London-registered company had assets of just over €6 and had not traded up to the period when they tendered for the contract.
