Council calls for Government rescue package for Morton Stadium

Fingal County Council has called for the Government to approve a "rescue package" for Morton Stadium, Santry, Dublin that would allow the facility to remain open for next year's Special Olympics.

The local authority says it will be forced to close the stadium on January 1st unless such a package is forthcoming.

The council made the plea yesterday in letters to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue.

The move follows the county council's announcement on Monday that Mr O'Donoghue's Department had refused to refund Fingal a total of €1.44 million spent to date on the planning and design of a new national indoor athletics arena at the site.

In addition, the council claimed it was owed €277,525 from the Department for the management of the stadium up to the end of last year.

Mr P.J. Howell, director of environmental services at Fingal, said the Department had refused to reply to, or even acknowledge, letters sent to it by the local authority over the past year.

Nor had the Department committed any of the £4.8 million (€6 m) it announced for the indoor arena in July 2000.

An additional problem, he said, was the fact that the organisers of the Special Olympics had identified improvements for the stadium.

These had been costed at €500,000, and were said to be necessary to facilitate the games next June.

In a statement, however, the Department said the Special Olympics Games Committee had confirmed the facilities at Santry were suitable "as they are right now" for the athletics events.

On the issue of running costs, it said discussions were ongoing between Fingal and the Department to find an "accommodation" which would allow the local authority manage the costs.

It added the Minister had asked his officials to meet with the county council next week with a view to resolving the issue.

However, a spokeswoman for the local authority said yesterday evening it had not officially been made aware of such an invitation.

The dispute over funding stems from an agreement in 1993 for financing liabilities to be borne equally by Dublin County Council, Dublin Corporation and the sport section of the Department of Education, now incorporated into the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.

Since then the proportion borne by Dublin County Council had been divided equally between the three new county councils.

This left Fingal's share at one-ninth of net expenditure.

In practice, however, the burden of funding fell "almost entirely on this local authority", the county council said in a report on the issue.

This was "unfair and unsustainable", it said, given the stadium was a national, rather than a local, facility.

Summarising its position, it said, the "proper management and financing" of the stadium, the proposed new indoor athletics arena, and the hosting of the Special Olympics was "no longer possible by this council on its own".

Speaking earlier on RTÉ Radio's Today with Pat Kenny, local councillor Mr Cathal Boland (FG) criticised the Taoiseach for not allowing the county council to draw down promised funding for the indoor arena.

"He [Mr Ahern] can sign blank cheques for other people but he can't sign a cheque for this important project," said Mr Boland.