A call was made for a moratorium on the development of the National Stadium in Abbots town, Dublin, until a Dail committee could examine the costs involved. Fine Gael's Tourism, Sport and Recreation spokesman, Mr Bernard Allen, demanded the moratorium after claiming in the Dail that the stadium would cost €500 million rather than the €280 million projected.

The Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation has denied the development would cost that amount. However, Dr McDaid said if the project did cost €500 million, "I estimate that would be cheap for a national stadium".

Mr Allen said the cost of relocating "the farm, State laboratories and the Marine Institute at Abbotstown" and developing the required infrastructure would push the project price up. He also said there was a "growing perception that this project is being pushed by a golden circle which has an alternative agenda to that of the sporting federation".

Dr McDaid said that the stadium cost was estimated at €281 million in a feasibility study, although it did not include the aquatic centre they were trying to facilitate for the 2003 Special Olympics, which would cost an additional €20 million.

Mr Allen said the Department of Finance had estimated that it would cost at least €90 million to relocate one of the facilities. Labour's sports spokesman, Mr Brian O'Shea, said consultants studied 15 projects in other countries and found that on average they overran by 73.4 per cent.

Dr McDaid said it remained the position that the stadium would cost €281 million, adding that other European countries and the US had built stadiums costing from €150 to €300 million.