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Lansdowne Road redevelopment still on track

  • 04-01-2004 11:14am
    #1
    Qadhafi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 240 ✭✭


    Lansdowne Road redevelopment still on track
    The Irish Independent
    BRENDAN FANNING

    THE plans for redeveloping Lansdowne Road into a 50,000 seater stadium to provide for both rugby and soccer are still on course, despite a media report to the contrary last week.

    It is expected that the design by Arup Consultants, delivered on December 16 to John O'Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, will be the clear favourite in a range of proposals to be presented to cabinet later this month. If the scheme gets the go ahead the new look Lansdowne would be open for business in 2008.

    There was alarm in rugby and soccer circles when the lead story on the front page of The Irish Times last Monday claimed that, in a letter seen by that newspaper, Seán Benton, chairman of the Office of Public Works (OPW), had expressed reservations about the plan on the basis of capacity and planning. On Friday, however, a spokesperson for the OPW said this was not the case, and that no comment was or would be made on the new design while the issue was still on the table.

    "This is outdated information and was misleading," the spokesperson said. "The comments attributed to the chairman are correct, but were based on an earlier proposal."

    That proposal was a plan for a 65,000 seater stadium, submitted to the Department along with four other options - Newlands, Abbotstown, Sillogue and the IGB site in Ringsend - on April 15. Thereafter the process stalled, largely because of reservations expressed by the OPW over cost and other issues. After consulting with the Department the IRFU then went back to Arups and the final plan, this time for a stadium of 50,000 capacity on the same imprint at Lansdowne Road, was put forward on December 16.

    It is understood that all parties - the IRFU, FAI, Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and OPW - are enthusiastic about its prospects. Moreover, Seán Benton contacted both IRFU chief executive Philip Browne, and FAI chief executive Fran Rooney, to clarify the OPW's position on the day the newspaper report appeared.

    "It (the 50,000 plan) is a good solution for rugby and soccer," Browne said last week. "Inevitably there has been a lot of information - and misinformation - fed into the public domain and The Irish Times article of last Monday only confused the situation. The comments quoted in it were from the OPW's remarks about the 65,000 seater stadium - which was always going to be a difficult proposal - and which dates back to last April. I think the OPW have a much more positive view on the latest proposal."

    There are still fears among the proponents of Lansdowne Road, however, that the presence on the agenda of Abbotstown could undo their ambitions. The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has refused to abandon his notion of a national stadium off the M50, even though it contradicts the wishes of his Government partners, and the primary sporting organisations it is supposed to serve.

    Tanaiste Mary Harney was unequivocal last February when she said in an interview with RTE Radio: "Well I'm not agreeing to a new facility at Abbotstown, it's out of the question. We have never ruled out the possibility of supporting the FAI and the IRFU. I don't know what the nature of that support will be. Clearly the GAA was given support for its facility at Croke Park. I very much look forward to the day that that facility can be opened up, but in addition to that I do believe that the FAI and the IRFU do require some pro-rata support from Government and certainly that would be forthcoming in that context."

    When the Abbotstown plan was first put forward in January 2000 it was enhanced by a conditional offer of €63.5m from horse racing magnate JP McManus. He has made no public comment on the issue but it is understood that the criteria governing that offer have not changed, despite the tortuous route of the stadium saga since then.

    McManus' millions were dependent on the stadium being a national facility rather than one owned by a particular sporting body; that it be in Abbotstown; and that it be of a capacity greater than anything currently envisaged for Lansdowne Road. In light of this it is not so significant that the playing area in the proposed new Dublin 4 stadium (142 metres long by 86 metres wide) could comfortably accommodate Gaelic games.

    It was thought that a facility that could serve all four major field sports might be a critical selling point for rugby's headquarters. Moreover, if it were to separate McManus from his money then the proposal would be irresistible to Government.

    The Lansdowne faction have not yet arrived at that point but the FAI's Fran Rooney is still upbeat. "We're satisfied that following discussions with the Department the plan for Lansdowne Road is on track," he said. "We're eagerly awaiting the memorandum to Government this month and we're extremely disappointed that it's all taken so long. Playing our matches away from home is a serious option for us now."


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