THE Dublin City Centre Business Association may appeal to the European Commission if the Government does not give adequate consideration to plans for a national conference centre in O'Connell Street.
"We believe the project hash" been disadvantaged because there is not a level playing field," said Mr Tom Coffey, chief executive of the DCCBA. "A legal adviser has been appointed but I hope we don't have to go to Brussels to seek an inquiry because of all the conclusion?
A competition among developers to build the conference centre was aborted last January when the Minister for Tourism and Trade, Mr Kenny, announced that the RDS in Ballsbridge was his "preferred location", mainly because it might attract a higher level of EU aid.
This was based on the thesis that the RDS, as a "friendly society", could qualify for 75 per cent funding, whereas a private developer would only get 50 per cent to build the conference centre. EU aid of £23 million is pledged under the National Development Plan, based on the 50 per cent rate.
However, there is a view in Brussels that the Government may be walking itself into "another Mutton Island situation as one source put it, because of its handling of the conference centre issue particularly the constant "chopping and changing" between potential locations.
According to sources, it was a fear of intervention by the European Commission which persuaded Bord Failte and the Department of Tourism and Trade to issue an invitation last month to the O'Connell Street developers to resubmit their plans for further evaluation.
Some officials in Brussels have become increasingly sceptical of the entire project. With Ireland already achieving its tourism targets, they wonder why the EU should fund a national conference centre, for which the principal justification is to boost the number of tourists.
Questions are also being asked about whether the RDS is conveniently located in terms of access from Dublin Airport and, more ominously, whether there is any need to finance another conference centre on the Island when there is already one nearing completion in Belfast.
The basis of the DCCBA's complaint to the European Commission would be that sufficient consideration has not been given to the O'Connell Street option, which would make use of the former Carlton Cinema and an adjoining, highly visible site which has been derelict since 1979.
Mr Richard Quirke, the Dublin's businessman who now owns the entire property having bought the derelict site for over £1 million from Mr Noel O'Callaghan, who owns the Mont Clare and Davenport hotels is prepared to lease or sell it to a public sector led consortium.
To qualify for the higher level of EU aid, a public body would need to be involved. "It could be Dublin Corporation, the Office of Public Works or even the Minister himself," Mr Paul Clinton, the project director, said. But the centre would be run by SMG, a US group which operates 52 centres worldwide.
The DCCBA strongly believes that O'Connell Street would be the best location for the development and is prepared to take a 25 per cent stake in it, according to Mr Coffey. "It's also supported by the Dublin Inner City Partnership and An Taisce. And nobody has objected to it."
Last month, after the developers received a letter from the Minister saying he was prepared to reconsider the scheme, they were virtually inundated by business interests keen on renting retail units in the proposed centre, according to Mr Clinton.
The commitments include a tie shop, bank ATM machines, a one hour photo shop, a news agent, a travel agent, a gift shop, a bus operator who wants the franchise to provide transport to and from the airport and a concert promoter interested in staging music events at weekends.
The Regency Hotel Group which has bought the adjacent, office block currently occupied by Fingal County Council for version into a hotel has indicated that it would be prepared to pay a rental of £300,000 a year to be linked into the proposed conference centre.
"Even Christian Dior and Louis Vuiton are interested ink "having units there, because it would attract so many high spending international delegates", Mr Clinton said. "And the high street location means that most retailers in the centre would be trading year round.
Given that the centre would be expected to attract 10 big conferences a year, each lasting three days on average, this gives O'Connell Street an advantage over the RDS, which has no "passing trade". It was also a planning condition that the ground floor remains active.
"It just took off, and there are now loads of people who want franchises at various figures," Mr Clinton said. "At present, the total comes to £1.44 million a year is Capitalised at 10 per cent, works out at £11.44 million, which means that the project would pay for itself."
Based on projections by KPMG, he said banks had indicated that there would be "no problem" in raising this finding.
If 75 per cent funding was available, a de luxe conference centre could be built on the O'Connell Street site using the Carlton as its main auditorium for £44 million. Alternatively, at the 50 per cent rate, a less expensive project could be provided for around £22 million.
Given the various configurations, it became crucial to establish what precisely was required by Bord Failte. After being invited back in, the developers were given a page brief and told to resubmit their scheme within three weeks a deadline they found difficult to meet.
With just days to go, they discovered that the RDS had been given a detailed 40 page design brief, drawn up by an English firm of theatre consultants. "I'm sure this was just a harmless misunderstanding by the Bord Failte people, but it certainly didn't help us," Mr Clinton said.
The detailed brief was written with the RDS site in mind and seems to envisage that the 2,000 seat main conference hall would double as a concert venue, as it specifies an orchestra pit and the need fob sound insulation to prevent noise escaping from performance activity".
Unlike the O'Connell Street scheme, which already has full permission, the RDS project would have to go through the planning process. It may even require the support of three quarters of the city council, as the Dublin city plan says a conference centre should be in the city centre.
According to Mr Coffey residents of Ballsbridge are likely to appeal against the scheme, whatever the city council decides, and it could end up like the Phoenix Park racecourse debacle". Even if An Bord Pleanala "granted permission, it could be open to legal challenge".
"The real issue is that the Minister needs to deal with this in an ethical fashion, otherwise there's, a case to answer in Brussels because the O'Connell Street scheme fulfils the EU the environment, transportation and the relief of long term unemployment.
"Putting it in O'Connell Street means that delegates attending conferences here would have access to the light rail system, Trinity College, the Hugh Lane Gallery, the Custom House, the James Joyce Centre and every thing else that goes with being in the city centre.
However, the secretary of the Department of Tourism and Trade, Ms Margaret Hayes, and the convention bureau chief of Bord Failte, Mr Jim McGuigan, are understood to be convinced that Ballsbridge is the best location given the "image problem" which O'Connell Street currently suffers.
On Wednesday the developers received another letter from Bord Failte setting out five new conditions which they would have to meet including a requirement that any public sector body wishing to become involved in the project would have to guarantee £6 million up front.
These conditions are regarded by them as "unreasonable", given the rental commitments already received. But they are relying on the "good sense" of the Government to see the merit in approving a project which is otherwise "ready to roll".
With the Phoenix Park race course now out of the picture, following the Government's casino decision, it is understood that the Minister for Finance Mr Quinn, and the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, believe that the O'Connell Street alternative should get a hearing.
Dublin Chamber of Commerce complained recently that indecision over the National Conference Centre was costing the economy an estimated £30 million a year in lost tourism revenue as well as a potential 1,500 jobs. But it did not say where the project should be located.
