John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

The provision of bar facilities at the new Lansdowne Road stadium is part of the plan. It should be remembered that often modern stadia are not used solely for the purposes of sport. Croke Park is often used for major conferences. In the same way, I anticipate meetings and smaller conferences will take place at Lansdowne Road. Therefore, I anticipate a need for restaurant and bar facilities and it is only natural that these facilities would form part of the plans. It is not the intention of the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company nor mine to promote the sale of drink, far from it.

Regarding the Dodder river walkway, an international sized rugby pitch will be provided at the rear of the East Stand to be used by Wanderers and Lansdowne rugby clubs. This development requires a small strip of land along the Dodder river walkway. Dublin City Council was approached with this request and is fully aware of what is involved. Discussions are continuing. In return, land along the Dodder river just outside the stadium will be upgraded and improved in order that there will continue to be a Dodder walkway from Lansdowne Road to Bath Avenue. The existing amenity will not be removed.

Engagement with other statutory agencies will be necessary as we progress with construction. There will be a necessity to have talks and reach agreement with Iarnród Éireann.

The entire cost is €365 million, of which the Exchequer will provide €191 million. Expenditure to date is approximately €23 million which was spent on matters such as design. The Department's Vote this year made provision for expenditure of €56 million in anticipation of An Bord Pleanála granting planning permission. I am glad to state it did so. In the circumstances, it is clear that Exchequer funding to be provided in the period from now to the end of construction will be staggered. It is true that the FAI and IRFU will come in at a later stage with their contributions. The reason is that to a large extent, their funds will be raised by way of selling corporate box advance tickets. They are confident they will each raise the required share of funding in accordance with the agreement.

It is the Government's intention to provide €191 million, which has been the aim since the beginning. It remains the position that the Government is committed to the provision of €191 million and no more. As of now, we hope to see construction commence in May this year, with construction of the new stadium completed by the end of 2009. This would mean we have met every single deadline since the commencement of the project.

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