By David McCullagh and Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
Keeping cool in the long, hot Roman summer is a serious challenge for Irish diplomats based in the Eternal City.
However, keeping your cool when builders don’t deliver what they’ve promised might be even more of a test.
That was the situation facing the residents of the plush Villa Spada in the early 1990s when continuing problems with the swimming pool caused tempers to rise along with the summer temperatures.
The 17th-century villa, which looks down on the city from the Gianicolo Hill, was bought by the government in 1946 as the residence of the Ambassador to the Vatican (since 2012 it has been the home of the Ambassador to Italy instead).
The swimming pool had needed refurbishment since the mid-1980s, but understandably the project wasn’t top of the priority list for cash-strapped governments of the era.
The work finally got under way in January 1993 and was due to be completed by April, but problems arose with corroded pipes linked to fountains (decorated with "a bronze snake on a seashell") in the four corners of the pool which were used to regulate the water temperature.
Read more:
1994 State Papers shed little light on FF-Labour collapse
Racketeering was 'a fact of life' for paramilitaries
Bruton sceptical SF, SDLP represented nationalist views
Holy Cross priest offered accommodation after threats
Five other things we learned from the State Papers
A further problem then emerged with the pool’s automatic filtration system, which appeared to be too small to deal with the volume of water involved.
The firm carrying out the work came up with a "solution", under which the pool could not be used for six days every month.
Embassy official Eamon Mac Aodha described the whole situation as a "debacle", complaining that after spending 55 million Italian lire (the equivalent of around €50,000 today), the pool would be out of action one week in every four.
If that was the case, he suggested, "legal action against the company cannot be ruled out".
The company also suggested that chlorine would have to be regularly added to the pool by hand.
Mr Mac Aodha asked: "What is the point in having an 'automatic' filtration system if it has to be constantly assisted by manual operation? Again, there was no warning that this might turn out to be the case."
He added that, in the embassy's view, "dealings with the company have been unsatisfactory throughout", due to "their minimalist approach to this work".
A year later, the embassy was still suggesting that the company might "consider their position" and perhaps pay some compensation for the problems that had been caused.
[Based on documents in 2024/64/12]
