Criticism over delays at sports centre site

THE ongoing delays at the Dundalk Sports Centre were branded ‘ a torturous, long and slow procedure’ at the monthly meeting of Dundalk Municipal Committee.

The centre has been closed to the public since January 2014 for the major renovation, and with a funding of €2 million was hailed as a ‘ land mark’ and one of the biggest capital projects ever undertaken by the former Dundalk Town Council.

But the project was beset by delays from the beginning with ‘one small complication after another’ meaning that deadlines for re-opening were continuously missed.

At the September meeting, Cllr Maeve Yore queried what the current situation was with the centre.

Senior Executive Officer John Lawrence revealed the frustrations of the local authority in relation to the project.

‘It has been very protracted, and we are very disappointed it has taken this long.’

An official opening was expected before the end of last month, he explained.

However this deadline too came and went, and the local authority are now ‘ hopeful’ that it will be open before the end of the year.

‘ There have been some difficulties with the contractor, and it has been a torturous, long and slow procedure.’

Cllr. Yore asked if there penalties for the contractor in failing to make deadlines for completion of the work.

Mr. Lawrence said that these were built in to any contract, adding that he hoped completion would be before Christmas.

At that stage the centre will have been closed for almost three years for works that were originally predicted to be completed within one year.

In September 2015, the local authority said a lot of the delays were down to the aims to deliver a ‘ high quality and high specification energy efficient building,’ and they hoped then to have it open again by the start of 2016.