The Taosieach this evening has moved to quash any suggestion that he wants to resurrect the Stadium Ireland project at Abbotstown North Dublin, saying that the country will not have a third stadium.
Mr Ahern said today that he did not want to revive plans to build a stadium on the 115 acre site. "There's not going to be a third national stadium - the country can't afford it," he said.
Speaking last night on RTÉ's This Week Mr Ahern had expressed doubts that Lansdowne Road in Ballsbridge would be redeveloped into a second world-class stadium, leading to suggestions that Stadium Ireland could be revisited.
"I hope we can turn Lansdowne into that. I will have my doubts until the day it opens because I just think it is in a very built-up area. It would have been better to have gone to an open space."
However, today Mr Ahern rejected accusations from opposition politicians that his recent comments about the potential length of time it would take to redevelop Lansdowne Road were a kiss of death for the project.
"I'm just saying these things are difficult and obviously I wish the process in Lansdowne Road a speedier route than the one we've had to live with in Croke Park."
Mr Ahern said that the local TD for the constituency in which Croke Park was located had seen how it had taken 13 years to be completed
Ireland will not build a third national stadium alongside Croke Park and the redeveloped Lansdowne Road, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today. The construction of Stadium Ireland was a pet project of the Taoiseach but it was abandoned due to the potential cost.
On Saturday, the GAA voted to amend Rule 42 to allow sports such as rugby and soccer to be played at Croke Park when the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road begins.
Mr Ahern said he welcomed this development but expressed regret that his plan for a national stadium had not succeeded. "My original proposal was that we could have a truly national stadium but that argument was lost. In my view and I'll never change that view, that was the right thing to do," he said.
Mr Ahern expressed the hope that other national sporting facilities would be built at Abbots Town, which already hosts the National Aquatic Centre.