An additional €5 million of public money is to be spent on eliminating the odours from the Ringsend sewage plant, despite assurances that the consortium which designed, built and operates the plant would foot the bill.
Dublin City Council has allocated €20,400,000 for the operation of the sewage treatment and sludge disposal works in its draft budget for 2006, up from €15,466,000 in 2005.
The council will cover the initial outlay and will recoup half the money from the three other Dublin local authorities; Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, South Dublin and Fingal.
The €300 million plant, which opened in July 2003, was developed under a public private partnership with the ABA consortium, involving Ascon, sewerage specialists Black & Veatch and Anglia Water.
Intermittent odour problems have persisted since it opened and the council had refused to sign over full control of the operation of the plant to the consortium until the odours have been eliminated.
Last May the council hired a US engineering firm, CDM, to conduct an independent investigation of the plant. The CDM report has not been published, but the consortium has agreed to a remedial works programme, which is now under way.
Assistant city manager Matt Twomey said the capital costs of the systems and machinery being used to eliminate the smell was being carried by ABA, but the local authorities had an annual cost associated with processing the city and county's waste.
"The operation of the additional equipment to deal with the odour is part of the budget."
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said the public should not pay for the mistakes made by ABA.
"This public private partnership has failed. At no time were we told that the citizens of Dublin would have to fork out €5 million for something that is the fault of this company."
