News 10/13/98 - Ireland Plans World-Class Stadium for Millennium (fwd)

Elizabeth Platt ([email protected])
Wed, 21 Oct 1998 15:29:25 -0700 (PDT)

[Apologies for not sending this sooner; it kinda got buried in my email
box. I wonder if this new stadium would help resolve some of the hassles
bands like U2 have had with staging larger concerts in Ireland? Also, I
hope someone has the sense to put some sort of roof on the thing; it
*rains* a lot in Ireland, and the country is also sorely lacking in
year-round facilities as well! -- eaplatt]

News from the Wireservices about Ireland & the Irish

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        Ireland Plans World-Class Stadium For Millennium

RTw 10/13/98 12:50
Copyright 1998 Reuters Ltd
  
    DUBLIN, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Sport-loving Prime Minister
Bertie Ahern announced plans on Tuesday to build Ireland's
first international class stadium for the new millennium.
     "This stadium will make an inspirational statement of
what we are as a people as we face into the challenges of the
new millennium," Ahern told a news conference.
     "The lack of a world class stadium with the capacity to
accommodate major sporting fixtures and other events is a
glaring gap in our sporting, tourism and social
infrastructure," he added.
     Ahern said a steering committee planned to complete a
feasibility study by the end of June next year and then invite
international tenders to build the stadium -- though no
budget, timescale or specific site have been set for the
project.
     The stadium would be within reach of Dublin, hold 80,000
people and offer facilities for key sports, including soccer,
rugby, athletics and Gaelic games, and rock concerts.
     The national stadium is to be financed by the state,
Ahern said, and from private donations.
     Flanked by Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy, a Gaelic
football fanatic, and Sports Minister James McDaid, Ahern
said his first big millennium project had been dreamed up by a
cabinet which loved sport, for a country of sports fanatics.
     "This stadium will be a stadium for all the people. The
word inclusive is bandied about these days but here is a
project that can be truly inclusive," Ahern said.
     He cited a shortage of tickets for Wednesday's European
Championship soccer qualifier against Malta as an example
of how urgent the need was -- and noted that "some people" had
to call on Foreign Minister David Andrews to help them get in.

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