If Lansdowne Road stadium is not revamped, the site will probably become a "concrete jungle" of housing, offices and shopping centres, Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue told the Dáil.
"A magnificent stadium, which has been praised by a number of the State's leading environmentalists, would not be more intrusive than a concrete jungle," he told the Dáil as concerns were raised about the level of objection to the revamping of the stadium.
Mr O'Donoghue said that a total of 151 submissions were received by Dublin City Council's planning section, "of which 20 were from rugby and soccer clubs that generally supported the project, while the remaining 130 were objections or semi-neutral observations, with a large concentration made by residents or residents' associations".
The Minister said "the objections were along predictable lines and issues included the stadium size, sun and daylight, crowd behaviour and so on. The development company is preparing material in response to the city council's request for further information."
Mr O'Donoghue said this was normal practice, particularly for a major project, and did not "signal any particular difficulty for the project". The Minister also ruled out intervening in the dispute between the Irish Ruby Football Union and Wanderers Rugby Football Club. The issues "must be resolved by the parties directly involved", he said.
Labour's sports spokesman Brian O'Shea said there were strong objections relating to the height of the stadium. The proposed height is 38.5m (126ft) compared with Croke Park's 35m (115ft).
Mr O'Donoghue said the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company was making every effort to ensure the concerns of residents are met.
Jimmy Deenihan, Fine Gael's spokesman, expressed concern that the estimated completion date was 2007 and queried the extra costs if the project was delayed. Mr O'Donoghue said the Government's commitment was for €191 million and there were no plans to increase this amount.
