The consultations which the former Minister intended should take place ran into the sand because the various sporting organisations resented the fact that their commercial mandate was being interfered with. She did not, therefore, proceed. One must ask why. If one goes back to the late 1990s and to early 2001, there was a period of turbulence in relation to sporting activities. There was the ambitious Abbotstown project and Eircom Park, which had been sabotaged. South Dublin County Council had given planning permission for Eircom Park but the Minister for Defence, Deputy Michael Smith, objected to An Bord Pleanála citing aviation concerns at Baldonnel, despite the fact that the FAI had already produced two aviation consultancy reports. To appease the FAI and to get it to withdraw its interest in Eircom Park in favour of Abbotstown, it was given generous grants.