FAI plans for a £65 million sports stadium in south-west Dublin with an all-seater capacity of 45,000 were widely welcomed yesterday.
The development has the backing of Deutsche Bank and the world's largest sports marketing body, IMG, the FAI has said. The proposals include a multi-purpose design with a retractable roof and removable pitch, also allowing for concerts.
The stadium would serve as the playing headquarters for Irish domestic and international football.
The Arena, as it will be known, should be finished by autumn 2001, although it is subject to the granting of planning permission to develop the 50-acre site adjacent to the Citywest business park off the Naas Road.
The Taoiseach was not available for comment yesterday, but a Government spokesman stressed that the proposal had not pre-empted the separate 80,000-seater "national stadium" plan Mr Ahern presented last year.
The Minister for Sport, Dr McDaid, last night warmly welcomed the FAI's announcement. "It is good to see an association such as the FAI making a major investment in their sport and they deserve every encouragement," he said. The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, "wholeheartedly" welcomed the plan. In contrast to her public coolness towards the Taoiseach's earlier proposal, Ms Harney, in whose constituency the facility would be located, said the FAI arena would be a major boost to the area, which lacked the type of facilities and employment opportunities the project would generate, she said.
The FAI's chief executive, Mr Bernard O'Byrne, said yesterday: "This arena is a venue for the future. With this project the FAI firmly takes hold of its own destiny and with it, we are confident, the financial future of the association will be secured."
On the question of rugby being played there, a spokesman for the IRFU said that while the organisation "wishes the FAI every success, we have before us quite a number of possibilities, including the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road".