The Minister for Sport, Mr O'Donoghue, is likely to bring proposals to Government shortly, possibly this week, on the 23 "expressions of interest" from private consortia in Ireland, Britain and continental Europe about the proposals to build a national stadium.
It is now believed unlikely that plans to develop Lansdowne Road rugby grounds will go ahead. This is despite an agreement, accepted by both parties in Government, that the Department of Sport would financially support the IRFU to "either upgrade its capacity at Lansdowne Road or provide equivalent capacity at an alternative venue to be provided by the IRFU, which would not alone comply with the requirements of the IRFU but also the international standards of UEFA", soccer's international governing body.
A spokesman for the Minister confirmed a newspaper report that the Cabinet had given Mr O'Donoghue authority for the financial support but it was "premised on the bid [for the 2008 European soccer championships] being successful". However, the IRFU has emphasised that its support for the conversion of Lansdowne Road was given "so long as the IRFU had somewhere else of a larger capacity to play their major matches".
A spokesman for the PDs said the party would wait until it received the Minister's evaluation of the expressions of interest from the private sector before making any decision about stadium proposals.
The conversion would reduce Lansdowne Road's 49,500 capacity to 35,000 because of the requirement by 2004 that all seats be permanently fixed.
The IRFU spokesman said the union was waiting for the Minister's evaluation of the expressions of interest from the private sector before its next move. "The issue of a stadium is high on the IRFU's priority list, especially now that the latest proposal has fallen through," he added. Most of the proposals from the private sector are believed to have sought land and tax breaks in return for an investment in a stadium.
A spokesman for the FAI said it was time the stadium issue was resolved, adding: "This needs closure. The stadium issue is over four years on the go". He said he believed, however, that it could be sorted out between the FAI, the IRFU and the Minister for Sport.
