Croker resurfacing causes outrage in Seanad

The sourcing of replacement turf in England for the resurfacing work on the Croke Park pitch has caused outrage in the Seanad today.

Within an hour of the end of last Sunday's Leinster Senior Football Championship final between Dublin over Kildare, the Croke Park surface was dug up ahead of the three U2 concerts which take place there over the next fortnight.

Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Daly is not happy that this year's All-Ireland finals will have a distinctly 'foreign' flavour to them.

"For the first time ever the All-Ireland hurling and football finals are going to be played on British soil," he quipped.

Daly has called on Sports Minister Martin Cullen to examine the tendering process which led to the awarding of the contract to a British firm.

"It's a €1.2m contract and it does not appear that there was any tendering done for this.

"I'd ask the Minister for Sport to look into this issue as a matter of urgency."