Sir, - Tom Humphries states (The Irish Times, January 31st): "In 1992, when Gay Mitchell raised the issue of Dublin staging the Olympics, the arguments against were logistical, infrastructural and commonsensical. Now they are philosophical." For the record, I first made the proposal in 1992. The Price Waterhouse report commissioned by me and the subsequent reports of specialist committees, involving senior business and sports persons, clearly stated that Dublin could make a credible Olympic bid. These reports were based on common sense, logistics and an infrastructural audit, and they examined how these needs could be met and funded for a future bid.
The only ones who have changed their philosophy are the cynics who did not read or heed the research done. They have no research, only opinions informed by human prejudice. So let us ask a jury of the people to hear the evidence. I have for some time been requesting that a Dail committee examine all the evidence for and against a Dublin bid. I am confident it would find that the research done to date stands up. This would give the knockers an opportunity to back up their prejudices with hard evidence, if they can produce it. As Price Waterhouse correctly pointed out, the question is not whether we can make a credible bid; the question is: do we want to? - Yours, etc.,
Gay Mitchell, TD, Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.