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Government will turn up heat on GAA to open Croker

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Public money is still being wasted on this venture. Consultants are still, eh, consulting. Proposals and drafts are still getting shuffled around. Discussions between the government, the IRFU and the FAI are ongoing. And of course, with each passing week, the prospect of the Bertie Bowl one day stretching into the sky over Dublin grows ever slimmer. It only remains for somebody in power to have the guts to come out and admit their dream is well and truly over.
Since nobody of significance will be honest enough to do that, we will have to put up with the charade a while longer. To this end, the minister for arts, tourism and carving up the capital sports grant program, John O’Donoghue, did his best to offer the project some badly needed oxygen last week. Responding to a question from Jimmy Deenihan, he informed the Dail that he is currently reading a report about an earlier report into the viability of various potential locations. If it sounds bureaucratic, that’s because it is. Almost four years after Bertie Ahern went from post to pillar assuring the nation about the sincerity of this initiative, the castle remains very much in the air.
Indeed, its only real relevance these times is as a gaudy backdrop to the ongoing speculation about the GAA opening up Croke Park to soccer and rugby. The country’s best-run sports organization is about to come under renewed pressure in this regard. With FIFA likely to insist on Ireland playing their 2006 World Cup qualifiers in an all-seater stadium, this will leave the unfortunate Fran Rooney having to choose between a very-reduced capacity Lansdowne Road (22,000 seats) or renting an English or Scottish club ground for competitive fixtures. Embarrassing as that should be for the FAI, and all who sail in her, it may yet be used to shame the GAA into finally allowing them into Jones’ Road.
“It certainly would not reflect well on the GAA if the FAI had no choice but to play their matches at the likes of Old Trafford or Parkhead,” former GAA presidential candidate Noel Walsh said the other day. “A decision to open up Croke Park to other sports would yield considerable financial benefit to the GAA.
“The revenue generated would go a huge way toward reducing the

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