Surveying Sydney

James McDaid isn't our only Minister at the Sydney Olympics this week. The OPW's Martin Cullen is there with three officials and is managing to keep out of the headlines and to avoid squabbling with Pat Hickey and the OCI. Cullen's role is to view the renowned Olympic stadium on behalf of Bertie Ahern who plans to build his own £500 million national stadium in north west Dublin. The Minister told Quidnunc from Sydney that he will get to the games two times at the invitation of his Australian counterpart but what he is really doing is viewing the stadium in action, in particular the aquatic facilities for our hosting of the Para Olympics in 2003, and meeting project managers and ministers.