Private sector ruled out of stadium

Private-sector interest in the development of a national stadium was effectively ruled out yesterday when the Minister for Sport, Mr O'Donoghue, said that most of the 23 expressions of interest had "unattractive conditions" attached.

"I am opposed to any private developer getting land at the taxpayer's expense and making large profits from it. That is a non-runner," the Minister said.

Instead he is expecting a report by the end of March from the Irish Rugby Football Union and the Football Association of Ireland about their joint proposals for a stadium, in what is now likely to be a three-way partnership between the Government and the two organisations.

The Minister was "absolutely convinced of the need for a new stadium" and a final decision would be made once he heard from the IRFU and FAI, who were in an "untenable position" because of capacity restrictions, which would affect the hosting of international matches.

His personal preference for the location of the stadium is still Abbotstown he said, but the other arenas in contention are a re-development of Lansdowne Road, the IRFU's lands at Newlands Cross, in west Dublin, and the former Ardagh Glass bottle company at Ringsend, close to Lansdowne Road.

The Minister had expected to bring proposals some time ago to Government about the 23 expressions of interest from the private sector, most of whom sought land and tax breaks. Consideration of these proposals took "longer than I had hoped or anticipated".

Asked by Labour's Sports spokesman, Mr Jack Wall, what level of financial contribution the IRFU and FAI would have to make, Mr O'Donoghue said that neither organisation "is oozing with cash".

While the IRFU "might not be badly off with fixed assets, the FAI and it both have financial difficulties". He believed however that their financial contribution would "take account of the amount of advance ticket sales they can expect".

Mr O'Donoghue said that the IRFU would earn an estimated €2.3 million extra per match if there was a 65,000 stadium.

The two football organisations face a capacity crisis with the insistence from next year on all-seater stadiums by FIFA, the international soccer organisation. This would cut Lansdowne Road capacity from 49,000 to 24,000.