Vol. 534 No. 3
281 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the details of the agreement reached with the Football Association of Ireland in regard to the national stadium; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10428/01]
As I said in my reply to questions in the Dáil on 6 March, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance, the Minister of State at the Office of Public Works and I met the Football Association of Ireland on 23 February. At that meeting a Government proposal for detailed negotiations with the FAI on its participation in Sports Campus Ireland and Stadium Ireland was outlined and confirmed by letter of 6 March 2001.
Negotiations will take place to finalise the formal agreement with the FAI on the use of Sports Campus Ireland and Stadium Ireland after which I will be in a position to brief the House.
282 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the proposals he has to adjust the estimated costs of Sports Campus Ireland in view of the fact that construction tender price inflation was estimated by the Department of the Environment and Local Government at 12.5% in 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10463/01]
The Sports Campus Ireland project has been tendered to the market on a design, build, finance, operate and maintain basis. This is a three stage process. The first stage was where Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited, CSID, invited expressions of interest from qualifying consortia. The closing date for this stage was 8 January last. Following assessment, shortlisted consortia have now been invited to make outline bids. The final stage will be a detailed negotiation with not more than three consortia. CSID has estimated the Exchequer cost of the project at £350 million. When the outline bids have been received and the tender process proceeds to detailed negotiations it will be possible to move progressively from these estimates to contractual figures.
