'I'm just fighting for my business' - Man accused of building defective school weeps in court

Martin McCloskey of Western Building Systems insisted that on the day he handed over the school to the department, he "never thought it had defects"

The Minister for Education and Skills is suing Western Building Systems over defects in Ardgillan Community College (pictured) in Balbriggan. Photo: Garrett White / Collins

The boss of the firm which built an allegedly defective secondary school in Dublin told the High Court when he handed over the completed project he had no reason to believe there were any defects in it.

Martin McCloskey, of Western Building Systems, at one point, broke down crying and had to be given a few minutes to gather himself during cross-examination after he told how, after proceedings began against him over alleged defective schools, he found himself alone and facing the possibility of his business being taken off him.

"I am just fighting for my business, that is all", he said as he rubbed the tears from his eyes and Mr Justice Brian O'Moore adjourned the case for a few minutes to allow him to compose himself. The Minister for Education and Skills is suing Western over defects in Ardgillan Community College in Balbriggan.

Western was set up in 1991 in Coalisland by Mr McCloskey (68), a joiner by trade who got into the prefabricated timber building business. It denies the claims.

Responsibility

The hearing, which was on its 32nd day on Thursday, has heard that delivering the building at a "breakneck speed" of 22 weeks - rather than the normal 60 weeks - created the risk of shoddy work by contractors and subcontractors.

It is Western's case that it was in those circumstances the minister's approved architects and structural engineers overseeing the project had a clear duty to monitor the work. However, proceedings against those parties were settled at the beginning of this case, the court heard.

Western has argued that due to the failure to monitor and inspect the work in process by the approved design team members, the moral responsibility for the cost of remediation works to the school lay with the minister.

The minister argues it was Western's responsibility under the "design/build" contract system. The minister says the remediation cost is €11.5m while Western says the works could have cost as little as €1.2m if they had been carried out expeditiously.

Questioned repeatedly about who was responsible for the defects, Mr McCloskey repeatedly insisted that on the day he handed over the school to the department, he "never thought it had defects".

While he agreed there were some defects, he believed these could have been rectified by Western once brought to the company's attention.

The court heard the department was shocked when new professionals brought to its attention the level of defects in 2017 following inspections carried out after the collapse of a school in Edinburgh in 2016 built under the design/build system. Ardgillen was built in 2009.

Put to him by David McGrath SC, for the minister, that there was an agreement between the department's experts and Western's experts about the defects, Mr McCloskey said he could not agree with a lot of them. They could not all be substantiated, he said, but his aim was to try and resolve them as soon as possible "to get me and everybody else out of this mess we're in".

Mr McCloskey said by the end of the 22-week timeframe given to have the school open, teachers, children and workers were "all on top of one another trying to get it open".

Asked by counsel what that had to do with his company's responsibility to provide a school that was fit for purpose, in accordance with the contract, he said he did not hand over a school that was not fit for purpose.

Counsel put to him that he seemed to be maintaining that the responsibility to ensure work was done properly lay with the architectural and engineering specialists. Mr McCloskey said his firm had "less of a part to play in the finesse of the building" but "I am quite happy we did not hand over a school that I ever thought had defects".

At one point during the questioning, the judge intervened to tell Mr McCloskey to answer what was a simple question as to whether he was saying responsibility for the quality of the work had nothing to do with Western. Mr McCloskey replied that "Western would have responsibility on all jobs".

Mr McCloskey denied a booklet produced as part of the tendering for the project assuring quality control was "just a ruse to get the job". He also said that he had no reason to believe that subcontractors he employed were going to "cut corners" on the job.

The case continues.