Council seeks legal advice in face of €1m pool complex bill

A local council has sought legal advice amid fears it could face a near-€1 million bill as part of a controversial conciliation process with the builders of a state-of-the-art swimming pool and leisure complex.

Killarney Town Council, the body that initiated the €16 million municipal pool plan, is faced with a real dilemma as a result of the final bill submitted by Frank McGrath Construction following the completion of the project in 2008.

The matter was referred for independent arbitration in July 2010 and it has now emerged the council could face a substantial bill.

Shocked councillors in the Kerry town have been briefed on the issue by senior officials at a behind-closed-doors meeting where they were informed of the significant difficulties it could present for the cash-strapped local authority.

Sources said the extent of the extra payment being sought by the builders was closer to the €2m mark but the arbitration process recommended that a figure of more than €900,000 would be appropriate.

“We were told that the problems that arose related to design-related delays and the extras involved in the building process. The bottom line is that the council is being hit with a bill for almost €1m and it’s the rate-payer that’s going to have to pay,” said one councillor who attended the in-camera meeting.

“We were told the choice facing the council is to accept the arbitration recommendation or to go down the legal route. The officials have sought legal advice on the best way to go.”

A council official said details of the figures involved could not be divulged until the process was completed.

He said it could take up to a month for a decision to be made and said it was too early to say if there would be budgetary implications.

The Killarney sports complex initiative — more than 20 years in the pipeline— has been dogged by financial difficulties since the outset. The council is already spending thousands of euro servicing loans to meet costs.

The facility features a 25m five-lane swimming pool, two basketball courts which can be transformed into a 700-seat arena, a fully equipped gymnasium, treatment rooms, sauna, steam room and high-tech health suites.

In 2010, hoteliers and business groups in Killarney voiced their concern that the local council had agreed to underwrite any losses incurred at the complex, and claimed that the decision to do so contravened competition law.