€10m overrun in aquatic centre bill

THE cost of building the more than €70 million National Aquatic Centre was underestimated by €10m because the state agency responsible wrongly believed the Revenue Commissioners would return VAT payments.

In 2002, the Revenue Commissioners refused Campus Stadium Ireland’s (CSID) request for a €9m VAT refund. After this refusal, the CSID paid the VAT up-front and tried to pin a revised €10.2m bill on Dublin Waterworld Ltd (DWL), which by then had a signed a lease to manage the centre.

The Department of Sport gave CSID the money in the expectation it would be returned when it was recovered. It never was, despite a long and expensive legal battle to claim it from DWL.