The Dublin 15 Community Council has called on the Government to hold a Luas-type public inquiry into the Sports Campus Ireland project planned for Abbotstown.
The council, which represents residents' associations throughout the greater Blanchardstown area, said it was concerned at the speed with which the consultants, High-Point Rendel, proposed to complete their deliberations on "this hugely expensive project".
It claimed to have encountered "serious difficulties" in making a submission to the consultants, who were commissioned in June to carry out an "independent overview" of Sports Campus Ireland amid fears it could cost £1 billion.
Apart from proposing a public inquiry, at which both sides would be publicly funded, the Dublin 15 Community Council wants a final decision on the project to be deferred until the next general election so it can be put to the public.
It says this would be warranted because the proposed national stadium and sports campus at Abbotstown was not part of any 1997 election manifesto, or in the Fianna Fail-PD programme for government or the National Development Plan.
The council is opposed to plans for an 80,000-seat stadium on the 500-acre site until a "proper" infrastructure strategy is put in place to serve the greater Blanchardstown area. Otherwise, local people would be condemned to a "life sentence" of congestion.
When staff, stewards, security, medical, catering, cleaners, drivers and users of other facilities are taken into consideration, the on-site population could be between 85,000 and 90,000. This would more than double the present population of Greater Blanchardstown.
In its lengthy submission to the consultants, the council notes that a proposed metro link to Abbotstown would not open before 2009 and complains about the slow progress in improving rail services on the Maynooth line, to cater for a fast-expanding population.
Buses were not an option either, given that increasing levels of traffic congestion in the area had meant that peak-period bus journey times between Blanchardstown and the city centre had increased from 50 minutes in 1991 to one hour and 45 minutes today.
It cites a study by Clifton Scannel Emerson, consultant engineers, which estimated that £123 million would be needed for improvements to nonnational roads in the area to cater for residential and industrial estates, without taking any account of Abbotstown.
On car-parking, the council notes that the original proposal for 13,500 spaces has been reduced to 6,000. It expresses concern that the overspill would find its way into nearby housing estates and other areas.
The submission suggests that the £350 million in Exchequer funding pledged for Sports Campus Ireland would be better spent if it was "spread evenly around the country", based on population catchment size, on local sports facilities.
