The lucrative contract enjoyed by a private company connected with Campus Stadium Ireland Development should be terminated immediately, the former leader of the Progressive Democrats, Mr Desmond O'Malley, has declared.
Under its deal with CSID, Magahy and Co, which is controlled by Ms Laura Magahy, will be paid 1.8 per cent of the total cost of developing the Abbotstown site in Co Dublin.
Describing the arrangement as "extraordinarily improvident", Mr O'Malley said: "The more expensive it is the more that company will get. There is no incentive to control costs at all.
"It seems to me to be improvident. Before anything else is done, that contract strikes me as one of the more interesting and disturbing aspects of this whole thing," said Mr O'Malley, who sat on the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee for four years.
In his evidence on Thursday the Comptroller and Auditor General,, Mr John Purcell, described the contract between CSID and Magahy & Co as "a novel approach".
However, Mr O'Malley said the use of such a phrase by Mr Purcell was extremely serious.
"That is C&AG-speak, in my experience of the Public Accounts Committee," he said. C&AGs don't use the sort of phraseology that is used in normal discourse. They tend to understate things greatly.
"If he says he is concerned about something I think that means he is extremely worried about it. When he says that something is novel I think that means it is without precedent and perhaps also without justification."
Acknowledging that he was not aware of the fine detail of the Magahy-CSID contract, Mr O'Malley said any contract could be terminated if sufficient notice was offered.
He further acknowledged that there could be legal difficulties if any effort was made to terminate the separate contract for the construction of the National Aquatic Centre.
"I think the project is half-built, or substantially built. So it would presumably make sense to try and finish it. But, according to the C&AG, the cost of it is escalating way above what was projected when the contract was originally awarded. My fear is that it will escalate further."
Mr O'Malley said the rising costs of the National Aquatic Centre, the first development on the Abbotstown site, created fears that the larger National Stadium would go equally over budget.
"That is why I think people should be very cautious about moving that forward, and certainly nothing should be done until a new government is elected here after the general election," he declared.
The roles of chairman and chief executive Campus Stadium Ireland, both of which are currently filled by Mr Paddy Teahon, should be separated immediately. Mr Teahon should step down immediately as chief executive, but he could remain as non-executive chairman.
