League clubs give Eircom Park go-ahead - February 9,
2001
The National League officers and club delegates will vote at today's FAI Board of Management meeting in favour of proceeding with planning permission for Eircom Park - despite widespread speculation that they would pull the plug on the project.
The 22 league clubs and their three officers, Michael Hyland, Brendan Menton and Milo Corcoran, mandated their delegates to vote in favour of going ahead with the next stage of the planning process, an oral hearing into a Government objection to the stadium.
The league commands nine votes on the Board of Management - six club delegates plus the three officers - and their support will ensure that plans to build the 45,000-seater stadium proceed to the next stage.
But the league delegates have also been mandated to try to persuade the meeting to re-open official talks with the Government about sharing Stadium Ireland, the proposed 80,000-seater national sports arena.
And the league delegates will also put down a motion to have the FAI's Eircom Park business plan exmained by independent experts.
It's time for ordinary soccer fans to make their views known both to the Government and the National League clubs - otherwise the dream of a national soccer stadium for Ireland will be crushed.
E-mail kickin - and we'll pass the messages on to the FAI, the Government and Shelbourne Football Club. And ask your mates to do the same.