Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

These matters should be thought through properly and the right decision reached, even if it takes a little time to do it. I would not apologise for it.

In the case of facilities in Dublin, and I am not only talking about sports, there is a live debate as to whether they should be located on the periphery, accessible to the ring road or in the city centre. There is something to be said on both sides of the argument. As we all know, it can take a long time to penetrate the city centre from the periphery.

I am glad the decision has come down on the side of Lansdowne Road which has public transport facilities in place. It also has a long tradition. We also need to think of the visitors who come here. We are talking in many cases about internationals and many supporters would come by air, sea or whatever. A stadium close to the city centre is more attractive to visiting supporters of whatever team we are playing against.

All of us are very proud of the magnificent facility at Croke Park. I have long been of the view that the more commentators, politicians and others try to cajole the GAA, the less effective it is likely to be. It will have to make its own decisions in its own time and according to its own internal lights. I have little doubt, however, that with two facilities, one for 50,000 and another for 80,000, there will come a point where it will make sense to share or swop facilities for certain purposes. I have no doubt the flexibility will come in due course, but I am not sure that us preaching about it will hasten the day.

I am glad we can now look forward in the reasonably near future to a second excellent stadium in this city for international matches and for national teams that, by and large, whether one is talking about soccer or rugby, have done pretty well in recent times. The Connacht rugby team, which was in danger of exclusion, was mentioned a number of times last year on the Order of Business, but it has covered itself with glory in the recent past, and the Munster team even more so. I will conclude by wishing them the greatest success in further rounds.