With some honourable exceptions - notably the new facilities at Croke Park - sports enthusiasts in this State have become accustomed to a standard of sports facilities that would not be out of place in Tirana. Lansdowne Road, which hosts rugby and major soccer internationals, is decaying; Dalymount Park, the former home of international soccer, is weed-strewn and dilapidated. To our collective shame Dublin - virtually alone among EU capitals - has still to host major European soccer finals or international athletics grand prix.
Against this background, the ambitious plan by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) for a 45,000 capacity arena on the west side of Dublin sounds impressive. The £65 million stadium - the FAI prefers to call it an "arena" - will have a removable pitch and a state-of-the-art retractable roof of a type that has become de rigueur at major sports venues in Europe and the US. Already, some heavy hitters from the corporate world, including Deutsche Bank and IMG - the world's largest sports marketing agency - are in place as advisers. Better still, a site - strategically placed near major transport links, including the future LUAS line - has been identified. Few problems are expected with planning permission.
While the FAI is to be commended for its initiative, there are some troubling questions; how does the FAI plan square with the Government's more ambitious plan for an 80,000 capacity national stadium, also on the outskirts of Dublin? Will the IRFU build yet another stadium?
Is the arena being planned with an eye to future use by a Dublin city team in the European Champions League? The priority at this stage, before a shovel is lifted, must be to ensure that there is not a multiplicity of sports stadiums - especially in a State where sports facilities at grassroots level remain so pitifully inadequate. The future redevelopment of Croke Park is well advanced but, critically, the IRFU's thinking on future accommodation needs is still unclear. For its part, the Government must satisfy itself that any new stadium will be put to maximum use.
The FAI's contention that it can build the new facility without recourse to Exchequer funds is not entirely convincing. It is not clear how the association will find the £65 million - by some accounts a very conservative estimate of the cost. The Government, which contributed £25 million to the redevelopment of Croke Park, may come under pressure to support the FAI plan. But a more sensible course might be to ensure that both the FAI and the IRFU will use its own proposed National Stadium; this might usefully be scaled down to something more like the 45,000 arena model outlined by the FAI yesterday.
The Government must also work to ensure that any new stadium, once up and running, can pay its way. At best, any new arena might host 10 internationals and perhaps half a dozen major rock concerts in a year. International experience suggests that some kind of anchor tenant - such as a major league soccer team - is required to make an expensive new stadium viable. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, himself a dedicated soccer fan, is clearly committed to a new sports stadium for Dublin. But the political challenge now is to ensure that one - and only one - is built, to augment the facilities at Croke Park.