Nothing but trouble has followed the selection in 2002 of Dublin Waterworld, an untested shelf company with virtually no assets, to run the €62 million National Aquatic Centre.
The sorry affair is now set to receive an airing in the Supreme Court, where the company will attempt to reverse a High Court order to hand the centre back to the State. No matter how the upper court rules, the saga will stand as a prime example of ineptitude on the part of the Government.
The pool was conceived as part of the Taoiseach's national stadium initiative at Abbotstown, west Dublin, and it was hyped as the biggest such development in Europe. It was brought to fruition by a newly-formed State company, Campus & Stadium Ireland Development (CSID), whose leadership was entrusted to one of the Taoiseach's closest aides, Paddy Teahon.
Just as the wider "Bertie Bowl" plan foundered amid differences between Fianna Fáil and the PDs, the pool ran into trouble on a grand scale when it became clear that Dublin Waterworld did not take part in the tender for its contract. Mr Teahon lost his job.
Admittedly, there was particular pressure to complete the centre in time for the 2003 Special Olympics. But it was never fully explained how Dublin Waterworld came to win the contract. Its backers were involved in a modest water centre in Tralee and they entered the frame - after rival bidders were eliminated - when a dormant British Virgin Islands-owned entity called Waterworld UK failed to secure financial guarantees.
With all of that in mind, Dublin Waterworld might have been expected to carry out its obligations with the utmost clarity and transparency. It was not to be. On the very day that its lease was signed, the company went behind the back of CSID to hand beneficial ownership of the lease to a businessman, Pat Mulcair.
In turn, he entered into a "tax-driven" deal to have the centre managed by a subsidiary of Dublin Waterworld. That byzantine arrangement became public last summer, some months after CSID took a legal action against Dublin Waterworld for its failure to pay more than €10 million in VAT and rent.
That the roof blew off the centre in a storm last year only adds to a sense of woe that is entirely at odds with the fanfare and can-do publicity that surrounded the inception of the Abbotstown project. There were claims, too, that the pool was leaking many thousands of gallons of water. These were duly denied by CSID.
Mr Ahern sponsored this project from the start. Its bungled execution will be a black mark on his legacy.