Ahern rules out revised national stadium plans

Ireland will not build a third national stadium alongside Croke Park and the redeveloped Lansdowne Road, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.

The construction of the facility in Abbotstown North Dublin, known as the ‘Bertie Bowl’ was a pet project of the Taoiseach during the late 1990s, but it was abandoned due to the potential cost.

Mr Ahern said today he did not plan to revive plans to build a stadium on the 115 acre site. “There’s not going to be a third national stadium – the country can’t afford it,” he said.

He rejected accusations from opposition politicians such as Labour TD Ruairi Quinn that his recent comments about the potential length of time it would take to redevelop Lansdowne Road were a kiss of death for the project.

Mr Ahern said that the local TD for the constituency in which Croke Park was located had seen how it had taken 13 years to be completed. “I’m just saying these things are difficult and obviously I wish the process in Lansdowne Road a speedier route than the one we’ve had to live with in Croke Park.”

Last weekend, the GAA voted to amend Rule 42 to allow sports such as rugby and soccer to be played at Croke Park when the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road begins.

Mr Ahern said he welcomed this development but expressed regret that his plan for a national stadium had not succeeded.

“Mr original proposal was that we could have a truly national stadium but that argument was lost. In my view and I’ll never change that view, that was the right thing to do,” he said.

Mr Ahern expressed the hope that other national sporting facilities would be built at Abbotstown, which already hosts the National Aquatic Centre.