IRFU row in with BertieBowl

The IRFU have given their strongest and most unequivocal commitment yet to the Government's proposed national stadium. In a significant development, the union not only confirmed that negotiations with representatives of Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Ltd (CSID) had recently taken place, but that they intended entering into "a formal arrangement for use of the stadium and all its ancillary facilities", and confirmed their "intention to have all major rugby internationals played in the new national stadium".

The IRFU's support of the project is well documented. Tom Kiernan is on the CSID board, and he and Syd Millar were on the steering committee which oversaw a feasibility study, "Stadium of the New Century". To date, though, their support of the stadium has been more qualified, with the intention to play Test matches there "subject to agreement on personal terms and conditions".

Yesterday's statement, however, went a step further, revealing that the IRFU would "be interested in using every aspect of the sports campus", and noting in particular the "provision of headquarter office facilities which we will consider further". There were no riders to the subject of playing Test games there.

The timing of the IRFU announcement is clearly designed to give the project added impetus, with the Government and CSID - perhaps mindful of an ever-nearing general election - also eager to take the stadium out of the theoretical arena and into a more practical stage.

The statement also coincides with recent publicity suggesting behind-the-scenes negotiations between the IRFU and the GAA with a view to having rugby internationals played at Croke Park. Clearly, that would be incompatible with using the national stadium.

At its most basic level, it would seem unlikely that the IRFU would rent a ground at a commercial rate when they could alternatively use an 80,000-seat stadium at a far more favourable rate. Furthermore, it would make little sense for the Government to help finance and encourage the GAA to let rugby into Croke Park, and thus lose the IRFU as major tenants in the new ground.

Accordingly, both the IRFU's chief executive, Philip Browne, and the GAA president, Sean McCague, have denied any negotiations have taken place.

Addressing speculation of his own regarding the "possibility" of rugby one day being played at Croke Park, McCague said that his comments "were intended to address a future time and a debate which hasn't even started yet".

Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland yesterday, McCague also said that "the reality is there has been no change in GAA policy or rule" and that "any change would require a decision by Congress". McCague added that "there is no change and no current debate among our officials" regarding "this topic of non-GAA games in Croke Park, and any interpretation otherwise is erroneous".

Significantly, too, the IRFU's statement also coincided with CSID yesterday tendering for all the facilities on the 500-acre cite at Abbotstown in west Dublin, including the stadium, through advertisements in the national and international press.

These include an 80,000-seat stadium as its centrepiece; a multi-purpose indoor arena; multi-purpose sports halls; indoor and outdoor training facilities; sports science and sports medicine facilities; headquarters for sporting organisations; a sports information centre; and other sporting facilities to be decided in discussion with the Irish Sports Council.

The closing date for receipt of expressions of interest is January 8th, 2001. CSID has already tendered for the aquatic and leisure centre, which has to be ready by the end of 2002 for the Special Olympics, while the timescale for completion of the stadium is five years.

Girvan Dempsey, the Irish full back, will be sidelined for at least six weeks after damaging ankle ligaments in Sunday's Test with South Africa. Dempsey should be available for the Six Nations Championship.

The Irish squad will have the first of a number of get-togethers at the ALSAA complex on December 4th, while the IRFU yesterday confirmed that the Irish team management have the right to withdraw players in the third and fourth weeks of the AIB League during December, as well as the weeks immediately before and during the Six Nations Championship.