The Taoiseach Mr Ahern today strongly defended the Stadium Ireland project, saying some people writing on the issue knew "nothing about sport".
He also denied any implication that the national stadium was an ego trip on behalf of himself, any other politician, or any sportsperson.
He said the Government was conscious of costs and nobody more than he himself "as former finance minister and an accountant" understood the government had to be careful with costs.
He denied there were tensions in Government over the issue. Twenty billion pounds was spent on public services each year, Mr Ahern said.
"Is it fair that out of £20 billion we presently spend on public services, sport gets £70 million only?" he asked in Killarney where he paid a surprise visit to 600 UK Travel Agents at a conference in the Great Southern Hotel.
Mr Ahern also called for more balance in the debate on the National Stadium.
He said he had not seen many of those writing in the papers on the issue at a tiddlywinks match, not to mention an international.
The review of the project had been put in place some weeks ago and he would wait for that before deciding on any scaling down.