Abbotstown could still be national stadium site

Abbotstown could still be the chosen location for the proposed national stadium development, despite the emergence of Lansdowne Road as the clear favourite of five potential sites in a feasibility study.

The Minister for Sport, Mr O'Donoghue, told the Dáil yesterday that "it is quite possible that the stadium may well end up at Abbotstown", in west Dublin. He had not identified a location because it was a matter for Government, he said.

Mr O'Donoghue, who previously indicated that his personal preference was for Abbotstown, was responding to questions about the development, following the submission to Government by the sporting organisations, the IRFU and FAI, of a study on Lansdowne Road, Abbotstown and three other sites.

He said yesterday, however, that his preference was unimportant. The construction of the stadium was the principal issue and he was "more than ever convinced that we need two modern stadia to cater adequately for this demand".

The GAA "may well enter the equation" and if it was part of the equation, the question of playing GAA games at the stadium would also arise.

Fine Gael's Mr Simon Coveney (Cork South Central) accused the Government of incompetence in trying to develop the stadium.

"There is a perception that millions [of euro] have been wasted on Abbotstown. That is simply untrue," the Minister insisted.

The Aquatic Centre cost more than €60 million and a "couple of million" was spent on site investigations for the possible provision of a stadium.

That might well prove to have been properly and well spent, because Abbotstown could be the location for the national stadium, he said.

The Minister, who received the executive summary of the feasibility study, will receive the full report by April 28th. The Department will examine it fully, consulting the sporting organisations and the OPW and then the Minister will bring his proposals to Government.

Mr Damien English (FG, Meath) said, however, that they did not want a "veil of secrecy" over the way the Minister would make a decision about the location.

"Some day we will wake up and the Minister will have picked a location", he said, expressing concern that it would be an "under the table decision".

They needed the criteria in such a way that "we can show the person on the street and say this is how the Minister will make his decision when he is picking the location and that it will be based on cost, traffic" and other factors.

Mr O'Donoghue said that in the provisional document supplied by the IRFU and FAI, each location was scored in relation to given criteria, including the distance from "park and ride" facilities. He added that there were "other criteria which were not taken into account, which might be regarded as relevant". That would include his "evaluation" of the expressions of interest for a privately funded stadium.

Labour's spokesman, Mr Jack Wall, expressed concern that the Government might "long-finger" the project because of current Exchequer constraints, as happened to Eircom Park, but the Minister said that if the go-ahead was given this year, the stadium would be completed in either 2008 or 2009, depending on which site was chosen. He added that most of the expenditure would occur in the last two to three years of construction, so there would not be a major liability on the Exchequer in the "immediate future".

While public expenditure estimates were between €353 million and €397million, some €71 million would return to the Exchequer in VAT and a further €85 million and €100 million by way of taxes and welfare payments respectively.

Public funding excluded the €118.5 million from the sporting bodies, "which is applicable to all sites", Mr O'Donoghue stressed. He believed that "at a push" they could "exceed" that sum.