National stadium - Ahern left red-faced over decision

THE question people are asking today is why the Government squandered so much time and money dragging out the Bertie Bowl project, especially following yesterday’s decision to press ahead with a €300 million stadium at a revamped Lansdowne Road venture, as opposed to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s preferred option for a €1 billion extravaganza at Abbottstown.

Considering that a consultant’s report shot holes in Mr Ahern’s pet project two years ago, why did the country have to wait until now for a final decision?

Once the PDs got into bed with Fianna Fáil, Mr Ahern’s dream became a nightmare. In no way could the self-appointed guardians of fiscal and moral rectitude justify spending €1bn of taxpayers’ hard-earned money on a scheme famously described by PD president Michael McDowell as worthy of the “Ceaucescu era”.

So, why did the Coalition forge ahead with the Abbottstown concept? Because it was to be Mr Ahern’s monument. His name has been associated with it from the outset and his mind was set on it.

But as the monumental ego-trip became a testament to folly, the last two years were a political charade, a face-saving exercise for the Taoiseach’s image.

If Bertie got it wrong, Tánaiste Mary Harney got it right. For a welcome change, she held the line on a contentious issue sharply dividing the Coalition.

Otherwise, taxpayers could have been landed with an astronomical bill for another Luas, costing nowhere near the original estimate and scattering deadlines to the four winds. Fortuitously, the outcome of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting marks a second victory for the PDs, who also scuttled Education Minister Noel Dempsey’s bid to re-introduce third-level fees.

While there is no gainsaying the Taoiseach’s passionate commitment to Abbottstown, a scaled-down version of which will be developed when money is available, the need for massive road and rail infrastructure there made it totally unrealistic.

Having reneged on funding pledged to both the FAI and the GAA, the Government’s credibility has been damaged and the Taoiseach has been left with egg on his face.

Prophetically, former Attorney General and now Justice Minister Michael McDowell hit the bull’s-eye when on Monday, April 29, 2002, he told campaign workers in the leafy Dublin suburb of Ranelagh the proposed Abbotstown Campus Stadium must be an issue in the election.

It is worth recalling Mr McDowell’s scathing comments. “At a time when choices must be made between pressing, morally urgent capital expenditure on projects such as cancer treatment units, accident and emergency units, inadequate primary and secondary schools, special needs educational facilities and local sports and recreational projects, a suggestion that the people should give a €1bn electoral mandate to Fianna Fáil to develop a campus at Abbotstown is by definition a political issue of huge significance.”

How prophetic. With the Government contributing €190m towards the new-look 50,000-seat national stadium at Lansdowne Road, the project must be completed on time and in budget to ensure taxpayers get value for their money.