A Swiss view of our ‘castles in the air’ bid for Euro 2008

I REFER to a your front page report headlined ‘State renews Croker appeal to GAA’ (Irish Examiner, Nov 21) in which Sports Minister John O’Donoghue seems to suggest that the Swiss will have to conduct a referendum on the building of a stadium capable of hosting the 2008 UEFA championships together with Austria.

Let me remind the Minister, one stadium is in place already, as we have seen on TV while having the privilege of watching FC Basel v Liverpool. A further stadium is under construction in Berne, another is to commence shortly in Geneva and yet another will be built in Zurich. As a Swiss national living in Ireland I am not aware of any proposal to have a referendum on the issue.

The stadia will be well spread across the country with one of the best infrastructures in the world while all the possible Irish venues are centred around Dublin with no proper infrastructure in place. In addition, not one venue has been confirmed yet! It is a joke to make a joint bid with nothing in place yet except castles in the air. If the Irish/Scottish bid is successful, it will be a purely political decision.

Mark Studer,

Lacka,

Castleconnell,

Co Limerick