John O'Leary has criticised NAMA for rejecting Dublin GAA's bid to purchase the Spawell Complex.

Despite offering more than the €6.5 million asking price, the GAA bid wasn't enough to secure the 35-acre site which Dublin had earmarked for a Centre of Excellence and a new 25,000-capacity stadium.

"Yeah, you could be critical of NAMA," Dublin legend O'Leary is quoted in the Irish Daily Star.

"The problem is no-one knows the full story looking in from the outside. There has been lots of opportunities for the likes of NAMA or people who had a property portfolio to do something for the sports community.

"So I would be going from the GAA angle, I'd be going at it from a sporting angle for the town itself. Because there are lots of sports crying out for facilities.

"At local level, there are lots of kids playing two or three sports and lots of people organising teams in two or three sports. From a community point of view, it is a pity NAMA couldn't do something like that. Something that would be part of the Dublin culture."

The 1995 All-Ireland winning captain and goalkeeper believes it's enviable that a stadium with a mid-range capacity will be constructed to cater for Dublin's needs.

"As the game has expanded, as the Dublin fan-base has expanded, particularly for league matches, you do need another ground, particularly for a 30,000 or 40,000 capacity," he said.

"Where would that be? There's lots of places you could potentially put it into around the county, or even on the fringes of the M50. There are economic challenges as well. Will it be used enough? It doesn't want to be a white elephant at the same time."

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