The Ringsend sewerage plant was found to be allowing odour levels 20 times higher than those suggested in its environmental impact statement, the Irish Times noted.
Both the Minister for the Environment and Dublin City Council have defended the payment of €35 million to the construction and operation company ABA.
Tom Corcoran, the assistant secretary to the Department of the Environment, said: “The final sum was €35 million, but €171.8 million had been the claim from the contractor for additional costs.”
As well as the problems with the smell, it has also been reported that the capacity of the plant was underestimated by “the equivalent of waste from around 225,000 people”, the Irish Times said.
In 2007 Dublin City Council implemented a host of new short-term measures to deal with the odour problem at the site, including new odour friendly sludge process equipment and inlet channels to primary settlement tanks enclosing.