The Football Association of Ireland should give up the "ridiculous suggestion" that it needed a ground of its own for its own independence, according to the Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey.
Appealing to the FAI to join the Government's project, he said it was being offered a stateof-the-art stadium for "little or nothing". Instead, it wanted to spend £160 million on a "halfbaked" stadium that would seat no more than 45,000.
The Minister was defending the Government's proposed national stadium during a Fine Gael private members' debate on the issue. Mr Fahey said there were children playing soccer in Galway and clubs struggling to pay referees and provide transport for matches and the "boys at the top" were saying they would spend £165 million on a stadium.
Labour's Enterprise spokesman, however, roundly condemned the Government project. Mr Pat Rabbitte said: "Bertie wants his vanity project and Bertie will get his vanity project", regardless of the cost.
Rebuking the Government for its explanation of the costs, he said it was "quite remarkable" that the executive chairman of Sports Campus Ireland, Mr Paddy Teahon, misled the Oireachtas Tourism Committee about the cost of the national stadium on September 14th and only discovered his error when it was highlighted by RTE's Prime Time a fortnight ago.
It beggared belief that the Opposition, the Taoiseach and the responsible Minister were allowed to proceed on an artificial figure based on an error of no less than £51 million.
Earlier, during sports questions, the Minister, Dr McDaid, said the sports stadium would cost the Exchequer £180 million. He insisted, however, that even if it cost £500 million or £1 billion, it would be "worth it".
He was responding to Fine Gael's sports spokesman, Mr Bernard Allen, who also introduced the debate on the stadium. Mr Allen said the Minister failed to include the £6.6 million already spent on facilities at Abbotstown, the £150 million to relocate the Veterinary Research Laboratory and the Marine Institute and the value of the land. But the Minister said these were part of the decentralisation programme and there were always costs involved in this.
The Minister of State for Sport, Mr Eoin Ryan, said that what was needed was the "confidence and determination to persist with the undertaking and give our country something that it can be proud of".
Mr Michael Ring (FG, Mayo) said the stadium was an effort by the Government to leave "some kind of a legacy", and "have a place where you can hold your meetings and Fianna Fail ardfheiseanna". He asked the Government: "What have you got against the FAI; what have you got against sport?" He added that the stadium was another project for Dublin and the "rest of the country is forgotten about".