Dáil set to probe €5m stadium overspend

The Dáil’s spending watchdog has initiated inquiries into a €5m overspend by the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) on its new flagship stadium in Limerick.

The IGB and the Department of Agriculture have been asked to respond to allegations that there was an “astonishing” decision made in 2008 to develop a site in Limerick which the board previously considered too expensive and too risky.

The Comptroller and Auditor General will also review the issue, which added €13m of debt to the semi-state company.

The Public Accounts Committee opened its line of inquiry this week after it received correspondence signed by a “retired board member of Bord na gCon”.

The letter said the IGB had considered buying a larger portion of the same site at Greenpark, Limerick, in 2003 for €2.2m. But it walked away because engineering costs were “far too expensive and too risky”.

“At the time there was almost 14 acres on offer for €2.2m. Our auctioneers, along with our engineers Atkins, had estimated a minimum of another €1.5m to be spent to fill the site and raise it to the appropriate level... We decided to walk away and leave that site behind,” the letter said.

A valuer’s report in 2003 told the IGB “warning bells” should begin to sound if it had to pay to fill the site. But it eventually decided to buy it in 2008 on the strength of an unwritten understanding that the seller of the property would pick up the tab. This deal collapsed and the IGB paid the costs.

The letter to the PAC said the person was “astonished and somewhat annoyed” to read in an investigation by the Irish Examiner that the board spent at least €7.2m for a smaller portion of the same Greenpark site it originally turned its back on.

PAC chairman John McGuinness said the correspondence, along with newspaper reports, had been sent to the relevant bodies before it decides whether to launch a deeper probe.

The IGB said it would not comment on an anonymous letter.

Separately, new details have emerged about an abandoned alternative to the Greenpark site. This land at Meelick, Co Clare, was bought by the IGB in 2006 without a business plan or a way of accessing sewers or main roads.

Board minutes, seen by the Irish Examiner, show the IGB turned down a chance to make a profit on the site in 2008 — six months after it decided to abandon plans to develop the plot.

The IGB received an unsolicited bid of €1.5m for the marshy land at Meelick.

It paid €1.1m for the same site less than three years earlier and spent €200,000 drawing up plans before it discovered it could not access the infrastructure. The investment on the site has already been written down and it cannot be sold.

When it refused the offer in 2008, the IGB was in discussions with the C&AG about the shortcomings that led to the loss on Meelick.

Last month, the IGB ran adverts in its race cards claiming the contents of the newspaper investigation into the construction of its Limerick stadium were false.