THE casino proposed for the Phoenix Park Racecourse in Dublin is the "financial engine" driving the entire scheme, including a stadium, indoor arena, hotel and conference centre, the developers conceded yesterday.
Mr Norman Turner, the chief executive of Sonas Centre Ltd, said on the final day of a Bord Pleanala public inquiry into the scheme that the casino was a commercial alternative to the level of state subsidy which would be required to finance some of the other facilities.
Cross examined by Mr John Reid, planning consultant for the West Dublin Action Group, a coalition of residents' associations opposing the scheme, Mr Turner insisted it was viable based on "the assumptions we have made about the many things that have yet to come through".
However, he seemed uncertain that the Government would agree to license casino gambling and said the developers would look at the legislation in this regard "if the Irish Government ever introduces it".
"As neither a detailed legislative framework nor licensing format is in existence in Ireland, we cannot reasonably be expected to guess what the Government may choose to incorporate in these in the event that it decides that controlled gaming should be introduced."
Mr Turner, who has been overseeing the Phoenix Park race course plan since 1993, stressed that gaming tables would take up 75 per cent of its floor space.
He also reiterated earlier statements that there would be no more than 500 slot machines.
The presiding inspector, Mr Simon Clear said the precise number was not something which could be controlled by such a condition. It would be a matter for the licensing authority to decide.
Asked by Mr Clear if the proposed 12,000 seat indoor arena would threaten the viability of The Point, on Dublin's North Wall - as its operators have warned in a letter of objection to An Bord Pleanala - Mr Turner said he foresaw them operating as "complementary venues".
He also revealed that discussions were under way with Apollo Leisure, which operates The Point, regarding a "cross share holding" deal.
His parent company, the US owned Ogden Corporation had built a similar arena in Manchester and it had not put an older venue out of business.
Mr Turner said the Manchester arena was "breaking all European records" and had sold 200,000 tickets for the last tour by Take That, the British pop group.
However, he conceded that Manchester had a population catchment of 12 million within a 1.5 hour drive.
He also said that Ogden had received a British government grant of £38 million towards the cost of building the arena and another grant of £80 million to build a major new stadium for Manchester.
Asked by the inspector how the 63,000 seat stadium proposed for the Phoenix Park racecourse could be viable when it would stage only 12 major events a year none of them rock concerts Mr Turner said it was not a "stand alone" facility but part of a "total package".
He discounted the possibility that Croke Park would be opened up for soccer and rugby, saying the FAI and the IRFU already had scheduling difficulties in Lansdowne Road, and this would be compounded if they were sharing a single stadium with Gaelic football and hurling.
Asked by Mr Reid what Sonas Centre would do if it received an offer to stage a major tournament at its stadium, Mr Turner said: "We would say `sorry' and explain that it would need planning approval".
However, he was unaware of any stadium with a similar restriction.
Mr John Higgins, of Ove Arup consultant engineers, conceded that the proposed stadium "cannot and will not work" without four remote "park and ride" car parks, such as Goffs on the Naas Road, from which a large, number, of spectators would be ferried to the site by shuttle bus.
Mr Philip O'Sullivan SC, for the developers submitted a letter from the racecourse owner's - a consortium headed by Mr Vincent O'Brien, Mr John Magnier, and Mr Robert Sangster - saying, there was "no realistic prospect" of it ever being used for horseracing again.
Summing up his case, he said Dublin deserved an international stadium. Nobody was attempting to disguise the fact that it would have an impact on the area but this needed to be viewed in a broader context.
One of the major benefits from the development would be the number of jobs it would bring, estimated at 2,000 full time and 1,000 part time.
Mr Turner had contacted his partners the previous evening and they were still committed to investing "huge sums in the Irish economy".
Mr Reid maintained that the reasons given by the board in 1990 when it rejected plans for a 150 bedroom hotel on the race course site could equally be applied to the latest scheme, which was "probably the single biggest development ever to go through the planning system".
Ms Joan Caffery, senior planner with Fingal County Council, stressed that the scheme had been considered and rejected by its elected members because it was in conflict with the county plan and would have negative effects on residential amenity, the green belt and the Phoenix Park.
"The proposers have sought to set aside the zoning of the site. But the review of the county development plan took six to seven years to complete and a decision was made to uphold the zoning for open space and recreation. This zoning stands," she declared.
