THE Phoenix Park Racecourse developers are seeking a public subvention of £50 million towards the cost of building a, national conference centre, a 63,000 seat stadium and a 12,000 seat indoor arena on the 180 acre site.
A sum of £23 million in EU aid has already been allocated for the conference centre under the National Development Plan but the developers want an extra £27 million from the Exchequer towards the proposed sports facilities.
"In England at the moment, Manchester is awaiting government approval for a millennium stadium on the outskirts of the city at a total cost of £120 million, with the central exchequer providing £80 million," said Mr Norman Turner, one of the directors of Sonas Centre Ltd.
"We received for our indoor arena in Manchester a government subvention of £38 million. So the scale of the subvention (being sought for the Phoenix Park Racecourse facilities) is reasonable by any standard, particularly if you look at the macroeconomic picture.
"The payback to the State in direct and indirect tax revenue generated by 2,000 jobs in this vicinity probably means, by our calculations, that the subvention we're suggesting would be paid back to the Exchequer in under three years. As a plain piece of good business, it makes sense.
"The only alternative that we're aware of for building a national stadium are large, direct levels of subvention of the sort available in the UK. And I don't think that the priorities in this country at the moment, the demands on welfare, hospitals and prisons, would enable that to take place.
"So what we're saying is, as a means to an end, a well managed, fully regulated, fully supervised casino that is not predominantly slot machines, that is demonstrably five star, is a sensible way of producing a national conference centre, a national stadium and indoor arena, Mr Turner said.
"It's easily forgotten that we came here to build a stadium and an indoor arena. We thought that would be sustained by commercial development and didn't expect to revolve primarily around the building of a casino. But it would give the country a new national stadium on a par with Twickenham.
The difference between this and the GAA in Croke Park (which received a £5 million Government grant) is that we don't expect it to be maintained as a private stadium. We expect it to be a national asset. I don't want to get involved in the relative politics between sports but that stadium is an absolutely first class civic recreational facility."
Asked about how it was possible to finance the estimated £100 million construction cost when the stadium would only be used for a maximum of 12 events per year, attracting a crowd of over 20,000, Mr Turner replied that Sonas Centre Ltd sees the scheme as a "20 year investment" which the casino would help to fund.
He said the casino would also help finance both the capital and running costs of a national conference centre "which has been needed in Ireland for the last 20 years and that, patently, even from the events of the last few weeks or so, the Government has found difficult to fund in any orthodox way".
But what about the announcement by the Minister for Tourism ,and Trade, Mr Kenny, that the RDS in Ballsbridge was the "preferred site" for a conference centre? "I can't read the Minister's mind but I'm sure one of the reasons has to do with the fact that the RDS, as a friendly society, might qualify for higher EU funding."
Added Mr Turner: "Most Dubliners would say that Ballsbridge is an extremely difficult area. It is congested already and even the odd function there at weekends causes quite a lot of traffic problems. Imagine it with a full blown, 2,000 plus delegate conference.
"The RDS is a very respectable organisation and it has done a very good job for Ireland. But marketing an international conference centre is a very specialist activity. And Sheraton already have 40 odd offices doing nothing other than full time marketing of conference centres and hotels, using a worldwide client list, which is Big Business Inc," he said.
"Around the world they have 450 hotels, and our project would plug into that network."
Asked whether the proposed 12,000 seat indoor arena would put the Point Depot out of business, Mr Turner said the two facilities were "complementary", ,though there was "always going ,to be some margin of overlap". The purpose of the arena on the Phoenix Park sit,e was to bring a wider range of events to Ireland than could easily be accommodated at the Point - such as a Pavarotti concert or the European gymnastics championship.
Can a city of Dublin's size sustain a second major stadium and another indoor arena? According to Mr Turner, it can "because Ireland gets around four million tourists annually and Dublin is much more tourist driven".
On parking, particularly forte major stadium events, he said An Bord Pleanala's decision had laid ,down that the developers would have to draw up a traffic management plan, to be agreed with Fingal County Council. "Our interpretation is that we would have to provide adequate parking and this would extend to park band ride facilities."
Commenting on suggestions that they must have had a "premonition" of the board's decision, given that the company had commissioned a new £30,000 model of the scheme, Mr Robert White, the Irish director of Sonas Centre Ltd, said: "It was certainly the best kept secret in Ireland. We had not an idea, not a hint of the board's decision. Absolutely not."
Mr White said the "easiest answer" to those who want to bring back horse racing to the Phoenix Park was that its vendors "are four people who are recognised in the horse industry, such as Vincent O'Brien, so if they can't make a go of the Phoenix Park as a racecourse, having pumped a lot of money into it, who can?"
Neither Mr White nor Mr Turner was prepared to discuss the terms of the contract they have entered into with the vendors - who also include Mr Robert Sangster, Mr John Magnier and Mr Michael Smurfit - and, in particular, whether it is subject to Sonas Centre Ltd receiving a casino licence, because of the need for "confidentiality". They said their company had "about 10 shareholders", including Mr Turner, Mr White, an English accountant and solicitor, and the US owned Ogden Corporation. Ogden currently owns only 10 per cent of the shares, so Sonas Centre Ltd is no longer a subsidiary - merely an "associated company", they explained.
