PDs to oppose motion on stadium

The Government parties are expected to oppose a Dail motion from Fine Gael calling on them not to enter into any further financial commitment on the National Stadium, despite reservations in the Progressive Democrats about the cost of the project.

The motion, to be tabled tomorrow, also calls for a halt on all preparatory work on the stadium.

It is expected the ministers attending tomorrow's Cabinet meeting will decide to table a counter-motion to the Fine Gael proposal.

The Progressive Democrats, whose leader, Ms Harney, has expressed reservations about the spiralling cost of the project, are expected to support this approach. The development was initially projected to cost £350 million, but some estimates now predict that overall expenditure will exceed £1 billion.

A Government spokeswoman yesterday reiterated the Taoiseach's comments of last Friday, when Mr Ahern said he was open to the project being scaled down if the costs are shown to be too high.

However, Mr Ahern left open the possibility that the costs could rise further when he said: "If we have to scale this up or back or forward I've no difficulty in doing that".

The Minister for Sport, Dr McDaid, is due to bring the terms of reference of the independent review of costs to the Cabinet within the next week.

Fine Gael, meanwhile, has denied the party is split on the issue. Party representatives on Fingal County Council, where the project is to be located, have tabled a motion for this evening's council meeting supporting the development of the national stadium at Abbots town.

The motion calls for support for "the construction of Sport Campus Ireland and Stadium Ireland at Abbotstown" and notes that more than 45 per cent of the State's population live within a 70-minute drive of the stadium.

However, Fine Gael councillors are expected to table an amendment to make the motion more like the stance adopted by the party nationally. A party spokeswoman said it "wasn't terribly surprising" that Fingal councillors would support the project, given that it was in their area.

Ms Sheila Terry said the motion was first tabled by her Fine Gael colleague, Mr Cathal Boland, several months ago. "I was never in support of Abbotstown, but things have changed considerably since then. Costs are rising and the GAA has been given £60 million for Croke Park. I'd expect the motion to be amended accordingly," she said.

The spokeswoman also rejected suggestions that the Fine Gael deputy leader, Mr Jim Mitchell, and Mr Jimmy Deenihan TD had expressed support for the project during a briefing they received from the company overseeing the development six weeks ago. She said the two deputies were enthusiastic about the provision of sporting facilities, but queried the cost.