Abbotstown front runner in national stadium race

ABBOTSTOWN is emerging as the strongest location for the national stadium — a little over a year after the Government was forced to drop the controversial E1 billion ‘Bertie Bowl’ planned for the location.

Sports Minister John O’Donoghue will present options on the location of the stadium for Cabinet deliberation in January.

The only two realistic contenders are a 50,000-seat stadium at Lansdowne Road or a 65,000-capacity stadium at Abbotstown.

The key elements of the decision will turn on what weight Mr O’Donoghue gives each option.

He has spoken positively about the Abbotstown site on a number of occasions this year and confirmed before Christmas that Abbotstown will be one of the options.

Soundings from reliable sources indicate that Abbotstown has emerged as the strongest candidate in recent months as the location for a national stadium. The new proposal is for a scaled-down version of the 80,000 capacity stadium originally envisaged.

“We detect a change in attitude,” said one source. “The negative vibes towards spending vast amounts of money on the Bertie Bowl have died down and besides what is proposed now is altogether different.

“What we are talking about is a much more modest proposal for Abbotstown. It would be a 65,000-seat stadium.

The land available would give potential for future governments to develop the campus idea.”

The Office of Public Works, in recent correspondence, has also said that a stadium could be more easily and less expensively provided in west Dublin, though it pointed out a number of drawbacks.

Like Lansdowne Road, the Abbotstown site is likely to encounter planning difficulties and objections from locals.

In particular, road and rail access in the vicinity of the stadium would have to be substantially improved.

Its out-of-town location would also militate against it, in contrast to the city-centre location of Lansdowne.

In addition, submissions made by the FAI and the IRFU in recent weeks in support of Lansdowne Road may yet alter the final decision.

The IRFU submission, included a study drawn up by consultants Ove Arup based on a 50,000-seat facility at Lansdowne Road, addressed many of the difficulties associated with earlier proposals for upgrading the rugby stadium.

Sources also point out that the E63 million offered by racing tycoon JP McManus towards a stadium project specified Abbotstown as a location and that Mr McManus has given no inkling of whether or not the money will be available if the location is changed, or if the stadium is funded by private sector investment rather than by the State.