Ireland will not have a world class sports facility for at least 30 years, the Taoiseach claimed today.
He told the Dáil he supported the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road and expressed his admiration for Croke Park. He said the State will have "two good stadiums" once work at Lansdowne is completed.
Many countries, Mr Ahern noted, have further facilities as part of their stadium complex but in Ireland, these will be located separately at Campus Ireland.
"We're not going to have a national stadium in the country for a generation ... probably 30 years" he told the Dail. "We will not have a proper campus like most other countries do."
He said many of Ireland's young sports people travelled abroad because of the lack of facilities and that it would be some time before the Campus Ireland site at Abbotstown would be fully developed.
Mr Ahern's intention to build a state-of-the-art stadium and campus on the west Dublin site was scuppered by the economic downturn four years ago and the PDs objections to the cost of the project.
The Taoiseach again clarified his controversial weekend comments in which he expressed doubt over whether the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road would go ahead. Mr Ahern told RTE radio last Sunday that "it would have been better to have gone to an open space."
Today he said he had been involved in planning in built up areas for 13 years and knew the extent of the difficulties involved. He wished the promoters of the redevelopment well and said Sunday's comments simply recognised the problems they are likely to encounter from opponents.
But Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said Mr Ahern's negative comments about Lansdowne were "not an accident". He referred to the Taoiseach's influence in getting the FAI to drop plans for its own stadium in north Dublin in favour of the ill-fated Abbotstown stadium in 2001.
Mr Rabbitte said the Taoiseach was "well capable of scuttling Lansdowne".