A PROPOSED casino, with 1,100 slot machines, is one of the most controversial elements in the Sonas Centre scheme. It is also, perhaps, the most speculative, since its very existence would depend on the Government licensing casino gambling.
However, despite intensive lobbying over the past two years, Ogden - and other contenders for a casino licence - have failed to persuade key Ministers that its benefits, in terms of tourism and raising revenue, would outweigh its perceived social disadvantages.
The Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, said in a Dail written reply on Wednesday that the matter was still being examined by his Department and he expected to receive a report shortly dealing with "all the relevant issues".
Although it has been estimated that a casino would generate £100 million a year in revenue for the Exchequer, some Cabinet members are opposed to the idea on social grounds, particularly the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin.
Last month he told the Sunday Business Post that, if open gambling was allowed, "people will spend money they cannot afford to lose". Based on experience in Las Vegas and other places, he believed that it would encourage prostitution.
In her submission to An Bord Pleanala, Ms Joan Burton, Minister of State at the Department of Justice, said she believed casinos were associated with gambling addiction, drug abuse and prostitution.
But Ogden has emphasised that its casino would be operated by ITT Sheraton, which runs 460 hotels worldwide and has an "international clientele of so-called high-rollers", several thousand of whom would come here to enjoy not just a casino "but other events, like world-class horse racing".
Many of the objectors, including 50 trainers, simply want the Phoenix Park racecourse to be retained as such.
Ironically, it is owned by some of the biggest names in Irish racing: Vincent O'Brien and Robert Sangster, each of whom holds 42 per cent of the shares; John Magnier (16 per cent) and Michael Smurfit (2 per cent). In 1994, they agreed to sell it to Ogden for £8 million, subject to planning approval.
The Irish Race Horse Trainers Association told An Bord Pleanala that, if the 116-acre site was to be sold at an "amenity" price, there was "a distinct possibility" of putting together a package to restore it to Irish racing.
The Phoenix Park Racecourse Preservation Association, in its submission, quotes its former manager, Mr Johnathan Irwin, as saying it turned over more than £60 million in its last seven years and attracted an average attendance of 5,500, as good as Kempton Park.
But Mr Irwin, wearing his current hat as chief executive of the Dublin International Sports Council, now says that the "financial plight of the racing industry" would preclude reopening the course for racing, and it would be "tragic" if Ogden's scheme did not proceed.
The attraction of the Sonas Centre for DISC, which aims to attract major sporting events to Dublin, lies in the proposed stadium and indoor arena. Both the FAI and the IRFU have sent letters of support, suggesting that the stadium would be an "Ideal" venue for soccer and rugby internationals.
But there must be a serious question mark over the ability of a city the size of Dublin to sustain two major stadiums; Croke Park, being redeveloped at a cost in excess of £100 million, and the proposed new 63,000-seat facility.
Residents of Castleknock and surrounding areas are having none of it. They have put together a "fighting fund" of £65,000 to pursue their case at next week's oral hearing, with the aim of convincing An Bord Pleanala that the Sonas Centre is not the right horse for this particular course.