Our image abroad is now at stake

The Government is expected to advertise in tomorrow’s newspapers for the private sector to extricate it from its latest embarrassment

Even before the advertisements are placed, it was generally acknowledged by economists that a privately financed stadium was not a viable project.

When the UEFA delegation arrives in Dublin on Monday to inspect Croke Park, they will see one of the finest sports stadiums in Europe.

They will be able to admire but not touch, at least while the current GAA policy of not opening the grounds to foreign games is still in place.

Unless Rule 42, preventing the playing of non-GAA games at the association’s grounds, is rescinded then by and large the Irish-Scottish bid for the 2008 European soccer championships is scuttled.

After the debacle of the National Stadium which has cost 200 million, Mr Ahern has lobbed the ball back into the GAA’s court in the hope that the money which was poured into their coffers from the taxpayers might stir them to rescue what is left of his ambition in that direction.

At this stage, what is at stake is not so much his ambition or vanity, but the image of Ireland abroad as a country which bid for a football tournament without having the facilities to host it.

The fact that that bid was underscored by the Government, which committed itself to building a stadium it now cannot deliver, makes our position even more risible.

In appealing to the GAA to come to his aid, the Taoiseach is probably in two minds now about his decision to pledge 75 million on the eve of their congress last year.

On that occasion a decision to throw out Rule 42 was lost by just one vote on a show of hands.

This year, a motion from Clare with the same objective in mind suffered an even more ignominious fate when it lost by an embarrassingly huge majority.

Next month the association will hold a special congress to discuss a strategic review it has undertaken. Whether or not the issue of opening up Croke Park was due to be discussed or not, it would surely present an opportunity to do so.

While respecting the right of the members of the GAA to decide how to use their own grounds, it would be a magnanimous gesture as sportsmen to allow, in the spirit of sport, the use of Croke Park for this one occasion.

The President of the GAA Seán McCague was quite right in criticising the way the Taoiseach approached this whole issue, assuming, as he did, that his wish to see a National Stadium was sufficient to make it so.

The reasonable person might consider that to accommodate their fellow sportsmen in soccer in their bid to host the European championships, the GAA would not necessarily be opening the floodgates of Croke Park to every other code.

The bottom line is that they could get the country out of a very embarrassing situation by making a grand gesture.