Public anger about government waste rarely inspires protesters to parade naked in the middle of the winter at temperatures of -20°C, but that was the response in Japan against the proposal, later abandoned, to host the 2030 Winter Olympics in Sapporo.

The 2026 event is taking place next week in northern Italy, despite widespread protests while the 2030 renewal, scheduled for Nice, is placing fresh strains on French public finances.

The world record for waste in sponsoring once-off events was set by Russia’s Vladimir Putin in 2014 at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the Winter Olympics cost $51bn, three times the initial estimate, in a welter of corruption.

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It coincided with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and helped to divert attention from his plans to follow the seizure of regions in Georgia with the renewal of the Russian empire in eastern Europe.

Both Italy and France were cured of imperial ambitions after World War II, so the motivation for spending taxpayers’ money on these extravaganzas must be sought elsewhere.

Politicians enjoy the privilege of spending other people’s money on grand once-off projects, and dictatorships are moreover immune from public protest.

Putin’s critics over the waste at Sochi included several opposition figures, then free to campaign, some of whom were subsequently jailed or murdered.

The stadium at Sochi was used just twice, for the opening and closing ceremonies.

In democracies the chosen technique is to exaggerate the benefits to tourism while understating the costs of the capital works and both techniques have been employed in Italy and France.

Studies by financial experts on the costs and benefits of hosting these once-off events conclude that the sums almost never add up – they even have a polite term for the lies that get told in advance.

It is called ‘strategic misrepresentation’, a term employed by economist Bent Flyvbjerg at the University of Oxford who has become the leading commentator on this universal phenomenon.

Ireland has never offered, at least not seriously, to host either the World Cup in football or the Olympic Games, summer or winter.

A fleeting exception occurred around 30 years ago when one prominent Dublin politician suggested an urban regeneration project for inner city Dublin, namely an Olympic Games in the East Wall area.

While a World Cup or Olympic Games in Ireland is no longer within the imagination of the most myopic politicians, there is no shortage of ‘strategic misrepresentation’ when it comes to sporting infrastructure, especially stadiums.

The great Cork hurling goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack, a commentator nowadays on RTÉ, drew attention some time back to the excessive emphasis placed on the construction of stadiums around the country by the GAA.

He was especially concerned about the overspend on the modernisation of Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork, stating on air in 2024: “It’s a bigger issue with the GAA. You have to look at the amount of stadiums that we have. Has anyone ever done an occupancy analysis on it?

"We have way too many stadiums, we’re investing loads of money in stadiums and there’s loads of proposals. I heard recently that there are 22 proposals that people are talking about for new stadiums.”

In fairness to the Cork county board, they have chosen to utilise the improved Páirc Uí Chaoimh more intensively – the Munster rugby team have played there, the women’s international soccer team have more matches planned and Cork City are arranging a game against Glasgow Celtic later this year.

But there are plans for expansion of numerous GAA venues around the country regardless of the likelihood of additional fixtures. It is time to accept that there are three large modern stadiums in Ireland, two in Dublin and another in Cork, and that is plenty for the number of big events that need large capacity.

There has been no comparable dawning of common sense in the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), whose strategic plan envisages new or improved stadiums, paid for presumably by the State since the FAI has no money, for each and every club in the league – there are 20, with plans for more.

The Bohemians club wisely staged their clash with Shamrock Rovers at the Aviva Stadium last season and drew a record crowd of 33,000.

Of the three important national associations in soccer, GAA and rugby, only the rugby authorities appear to have a coherent policy about sharing stadiums and sparing the Exchequer the constant appeals for more.

At this time of the year, youngsters around the country face repeated match cancellation due to waterlogged pitches. Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has a capital budget of €2.2bn pa which, if Cusack is to be heeded, should focus on playing facilities rather than vanity stadiums.