The first signs of a re-think about the scale and costs of Campus and Stadium Ireland are beginning to emerge. Some two-and-a-half years after the Taoiseach first mooted the idea of "a stadium for the new century" to fulfill his vision of "an icon for the island of Ireland in the new millennium", there is a growing concern that Mr Ahern's edifice complex may have lost the run of itself. It seems that it is only now that a sense of proportion is to be applied to the biggest infrastructural project in the history of the State.
For this reason alone, the suspicious taxpayer should be grateful for the latest public exchanges between the Tanaiste and the Taoiseach. It is extremely disquieting to learn that an inter-government controversy between the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fail was required before it was decided to conduct an independent cost benefit analysis of the project. No such review has been carried out to date. The initial estimate for the project was £281 million in January of last year; £550 million on the last reckoning; and, despite Mr Ahern's denials yesterday, could run to £1 billion by the time it is built.
Side by side with the escalating costs, the scale of the project has also increased in the last year. The original plan for Abbotstown provided for a stadium for 80,000 spectators, a 15,000 indoor arena, an indoor tennis facility, a sports science and medical centre and a variety of multi-purpose halls. It now includes a velodrome, a golf academy and an aquatic centre with an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The aquatic centre is the only element for which a contract has been signed.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, raised other serious concerns about the project yesterday while dismissing any question of the Coalition's survival. The Government had not made any decisions about resources for the project. The so-called Bertie Bowl was not provided for in the Estimates or the National Development Plan. "I have not seen on any piece of paper an estimate of the proposed costs", she said.
In all of these circumstances, alarming as they are, it is time for second thoughts about Campus and Stadium Ireland. The decision to commission an independent external assessment of the whole project, even at this late stage, is a necessary development. The terms of reference will be brought before next week's Cabinet meeting. The commitment that no new contracts will be entered into until that analysis is completed is also essential. There may be a case for scaling down the development.
The Taoiseach's stated aim is to move this State into a position where we could have quality infrastructure for sports. "We've never ever got a major international - no European championships, no major events whatever apart from cross-country for which we use horse-racing courses", he said. He was unduly dismissive of Mr Michael Noonan's argument that Campus and Stadium Ireland was the wrong project in the wrong place at the wrong time. The case for Mr Ahern's grand project has not been made convincingly to the taxpayer. And with patients on stretchers for up to three days waiting for hospital beds, a fundamental judgment on priorities is now called for. Are two 80,000-seater stadiums really needed?