Madam, - Building a 50,000 capacity stadium in place of the current 49,500 capacity stadium at Lansdowne Road is utter madness. Granted, the current stadium is a crumbling wreck and needs to be replaced but, all arguments about Croke Park aside, is this not a classic case of Irish short-sightedness?
The stadium's current capacity is not nearly enough. France are coming to town in what promises to be a great weekend for Irish sport and thousands of playing members of Ireland's many clubs, of which I am one, cannot get a ticket despite our best endeavours. Surely, with the cost of building this new stadium, the respective sporting bodies will need to lean on corporate hospitality and sponsorship even more than they currently do - which will further reduce the number of tickets that filter down to the grassroot players like myself and thousands more.
Why must Ireland always play the poor cousin when it comes to facilities? For once we should show the world what we have to offer. - Yours, etc.,
JULIAN GRANT, Greenville Place, Dublin 8.