Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

In his reply to a priority question last week from my colleague, Deputy Ferris, the Minister stated that in regard to the possible difficulties affecting the development of Lansdowne Road there was no "plan B" at the present time. However, if the redevelopment runs into difficulties as has been widely predicted, an alternative might be needed. The question is, therefore, whether this Bill is laying the ground for such an alternative. If that is the case, surely the Government ought to be more honest about it. I say that because of the widespread belief that even though the Minister and other supporters of the original proposal to build a national stadium, including the Taoiseach, were overruled by the PD minority in Government in 2004, they have not entirely given up on the idea. Any impediment placed in the way of the re-development of Lansdowne will be seized on as an opportunity to proceed with a full-scale stadium capable of hosting international soccer and rugby internationals at Abbotstown.

The question must be posed as to whether the Government has any real commitment to the Lansdowne project. I say this on the basis of the likely foreseen difficulties in securing planning permission and the Minister's stated position on Lansdowne in recent years. In February 2003, when the proposal to build a national stadium at Abbotstown or another site was still a live option, the Minister told the House that he saw the provision of a 65,000-capacity stadium as essential to meet the future requirements of international fixtures in soccer and rugby, and the optimum if the project was to be financially viable. Last week he stated that the redeveloped Lansdowne Road venue would have a seating capacity of 50,000. Does he believe this is a viable figure and if so, what has happened to change his mind in the interval?

See this speech in context