Ireland will hold talks with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) about the possibility of playing a test match at Lord's in 2019 after they and Afghanistan were granted full-member status by the International Cricket Council on Thursday.
The two countries became the game's 11th and 12th test playing nations after their applications was unanimously backed by the ICC.
Cricket Ireland Chief Executive Warren Deutrom is hopeful of a return to Lord's where they played the second of the two one-day international games in England last month.
"We saw recently that Ireland were able to get 25,000 bums on seats at Lord's in May, when it is not easy to sell tickets," Deutrom told reporters.
"When I sit down with (ECB CEO) Tom Harrison I will be reminding him of Giles Clarke (former ECB chairman) referring to the 'glittering prize' of Ireland playing against England at Lord's.
"For that to be the case we need to have discussions to see how it can pan out. We do have a busy season ahead for both of us next year."
Both Ireland and Afghanistan are yet to set dates for their inaugural tests.
.@Irelandcricket CEO Warren Deutrom tells RTE that Ireland is now 'one of the senior members of the world game' after achieving Test status pic.twitter.com/WMofOqO0v1
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 22, 2017
"Last month, the night before our historic match against England at Lord’s I said that Irish cricket is crossing a Rubicon - yesterday, we crossed it!" said Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom, greeting the news of Ireland's elevation to test status.
"By becoming a full member of ICC, we have completed one stage of a journey that has taken Irish cricket from marginal and mostly ignored to one of the premier nations in the world’s second biggest sport.
"And it is a journey that has been travelled with remarkable speed. Every time we set ourselves a mountain to climb, we do so. We have always believed that the shame is not in failing to reach an ambitious target, but rather being afraid to try
"And having proven our credentials to the world cricket community, we now have the opportunity to achieve an even bigger goal, which is to make cricket a mainstream sport in Ireland."
