The Taoiseach and Tánaiste yesterday played down reports of dissent in Fianna Fáil and tensions within the Coalition over the abandonment of the plan for a State-funded national stadium.
As the Government launched the search for private sector investors in the project, several Fianna Fáil backbenchers yesterday privately supported the public criticism by their colleagues Mr Conor Lenihan and Mr Batt O'Keeffe over the way the news of the about-turn was handled.
"We all knew the economic realities," said one yesterday. "But why did we have to make it look like a victory for Harney? Why couldn't we have announced it ourselves without teeing up a big showdown last Tuesday that we were seen to lose? It has damaged the Fianna Fáil side of the Government".
However, Mr Ahern told reporters yesterday that he had spoken to most of his backbenchers on Tuesday and Wednesday and he did not believe there was great unrest in the party arising from the stadium decision. "There is disappointment because of the slowdown of the economy, and because even though we are spending something like €5.5 billion on the capital programme that all of the projects in the National Development Plan cannot be finished," he said.
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, insisted yesterday that the Government would not be damaged by the affair. She said the issue of the national stadium had always caused difficulties between the two parties.
However, the Tánaiste said she and Mr Ahern had an excellent working relationship, that she had compromised on many issues in the past in order to maintain that relationship, and she expected it to continue as before. She was also upbeat about the prospect of attracting private sector interest in building a stadium.
The Government has placed advertisements in this morning's newspapers seeking expressions of interest, and, according to Government sources, some construction and sports management firms have already shown some interest.
The closing date for expressions of interest is October 18th, just seven weeks before UEFA must make its final decision as to who will host the 2008 European soccer championships. If the joint Irish/Scottish bid is to succeed, the Scottish and Irish football associations must be able to convince UEFA before then that two suitable stadiums will be available in time.
Ms Harney said she had agreed to a commitment in the Programme for Government to build a world-class stadium. "That commitment hasn't been removed from the Programme for Government. What we have said is that public funding will not be available in the medium term to carry out that task.
"The issue for me and the Progressive Democrats was always the allocation of public monies of this kind at a time when there were so many other pressures."