An old friend, sadly gone to his eternal reward, one used a phrase which has stuck in my mind ever since. In a hostelry in, I think, Carrick-on-Shannon, Milo Flynn said: "Oh yes! I can hear the bees, but I can't taste the honey".

By that he meant that there could be lots of talk about anything and everything, but action was what mattered in the end.

It seems to me that this is the case in regard to the establishment of a national stadium in the environs of Dublin, an idea so beloved of Bertie Ahern and others. There has been a lot of buzzing but little taste of honey and one can only wonder why. A very encouraging signal has been sent out in recent weeks in a series of letters to the editor of this newspaper in regard to what use the former race track in the Phoenix Park might be put to. Surely this is the ideal place to put a national stadium?

The letters have been signed by Kevin Smith from the Goatstown area of Dublin who has written on behalf of the Racing Club of Ireland and they make a lot of common sense. Suggestions that a national sports stadium be built in Tallaght or other areas on the fringes of Dublin, or down the Naas Road are simply ridiculous. To leave that aside, for the moment, it makes so much sense that any stadium which might attract big crowds should be accessible to the people who want to go to see sports events there. In this respect, Dublin is blessed insofar as the stadiums which it has are all, more or less, within walking distance. On the north side of the city and not far from bus routes and railway stations you have Croke Park, Tolka Park, Dalymount Park and not too far away either, the Billy Morton Stadium in Santry.

On the south side there is Lansdowne Road, Leopardstown race track, Shelbourne dog track and several other smaller grounds. Even racecourses such as the Curragh can be reached on big occasions by rail.

Any suggestion that a big national stadium be provided away from the public transport system should be totally ruled out. This is where the Phoenix Park racecourse comes firmly into the picture and it is the obvious place to build such a facility.

Given that the Government, any government, is looking after the interests of the people as a whole, no financial support of any sort should be given to any project which does not take into account the convenience of the ordinary sport-going public. It seems to this observer that far too much emphasis is now being put on the convenience of what is called "the corporate sector". The vast majority of these people are posers or worse, hangers-on who have very little, or even no interest, in the events they go to. Maybe that is an exaggeration of a kind, but we have all seen vast areas of stands empty until 10 minutes after the start and, again, 15 minutes before the end. The free gargle and grub seems to be much more attractive that the event.

That is not all that bad in some cases but, what is most annoying about it is that a lot of people who would love to be there for the entire event cannot get tickets and are deprived of their rights.

These are the people who go to matches or other events week after week only to find that, when the big day comes, they haven't got a chance of buying a ticket and have to stay at home while people who are there only for the day out can swan into the "corporate tents" and pay little or no attention to what takes place outside and could care even less.

To get back to the topic in hand, it would seem logical that the State, which can buy fancy houses in the same area from very rich families, might consider the possibility of using another site in the immediate area for the benefit of the ordinary sport-loving people of Ireland. The Phoenix Park racecourse is an ideal place for a national sports stadium. It is within easy reach of the city and close to one of the main rail lines into the city and, for some, within walking distance of bus and rail facilities. The idea of building houses on the site seems ridiculous. That would cause quite a lot of local disruption, would put enormous pressure on local amenities and would, without doubt, further congest the already overloaded infrastructure of the area.

Dublin is badly in need of areas of recreational value having lost many already. The entire Phoenix Park area is a treasure for a large city and should be preserved as such. Croke Park will, very soon, in spite of ridiculous bureaucratic bungling at An Bord Pleanala level, be brilliantly completed. Another such treasure could be provided on the site of what used to be the Phoenix Park racecourse and the sooner that the Government takes an active interest in preserving this precious facility, the better it will be for all of us.