The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, has urged the GAA to open up Croke Park to other sports in what he said would be "a patriotic gesture".
Delivering a further blow to the prospect of a new national stadium, the Minister said it would be "in the best interests of the country" if the GAA allowed other sporting organisations to use Croke Park, thereby eliminating the need for a new venue of a similar scale in the State.
Mr O'Donoghue, who as recently as last April described the opening up of Croke Park as untenable, said yesterday that the move would be of "enormous benefit" to the State.
While he said there was still a need for a second stadium, a decision by the GAA to open up Croke Park "in turn would indicate that the capacity of the second stadium would not need to be of the order of seventy or eighty thousand (seats)".
Speaking on Today FM's Last Word show, the Minister said: "I understand where the GAA is coming from. But I really believe that the GAA would be doing this country a great service were it to decide that, independently, it would from time to time make the stadium, Croke Park, available to other sports. Now they could decide the times and the events themselves. But I really would think that would be of enormous benefit."
Were the GAA congress to vote on the issue again, he said, "the probability is that it will be a decision to leave it to the central council . . . It really would be of great assistance if the GAA were to make a favourable decision, and I think it really would be in the best interests of the country and it would be a patriotic gesture to that extent."
Ultimately, however, he said, "it is a matter for the GAA".
Responding to the appeal, GAA press officer Mr Danny Lynch said: "It would be more prudent if people left it to the GAA congress to decide rather than making statements seen to be putting pressure on those members.
"As former president Peter Quinn unambiguously stated on television this week, and was quite emphatic in doing so, the Government has reneged on financial commitments to the GAA and obviously this has led to an undercurrent of angst within the association."
Earlier this month, the GAA's Wicklow county convention agreed a motion for next April's congress which would allow the stadium be leased to the Government for five events a year.
Mr Lynch said he felt the Minister might be trying to equate this motion, if passed, "with satisfying his agenda despite the fact that it would have no impact on Rule 42 which governs the use of Croke Park and would still have to be altered".
In the radio interview, Mr O'Donoghue emphasised he came from "a traditional Gaelic games background and from a county that is steeped in the tradition of the GAA". He also described as "very progressive" the GAA president, Mr Sean Kelly, who supports the opening up of Croke Park.
Last April, the Minister said he did not believe the opening up of Croke Park was tenable, given the number of fixtures already taking place at that stadium, probable objections from local residents, and floodlighting and pitch maintenance issues.