The Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue yesterday outlined his hope that Croke Park would be made available for soccer and rugby beyond 2007 and 2008.

A meeting of the GAA's Central Council earlier this month agreed that the deal would have to be reconsidered post-2008.

"We've always said the construction period (of Lansdowne) would be in the order of 29 months," said the Minister. "We've met every single deadline to date, and I anticipate the decision of An Bord Pleanála will come in the middle of March. Then we will know precisely where we stand in relation to the stadium.

"I'm hoping, obviously, that we will get planning permission in the middle of March, and if we get that there is no reason why we can't go on site and start tearing down the terraces and start the construction of the stadium.

"Obviously, that means the requirement for the IRFU and the FAI to use Croke Park would go beyond 2008, and into 2009. In those circumstances certainly I would be hoping that the GAA would hold another congress, a special congress or their ordinary congress, to pass a resolution that would make the Croke Park facility available to the IRFU and the FAI for their home internationals during the remaining period of the construction of the stadium.

"That is the hope, naturally, because unfortunatelythe alternative to that is for the IRFU or the FAI to go abroad to play their games."