Marketing director Simon Lyons is refusing to accept defeat in the joint 2008 European Championship bid despite the loss of public funding for a stadium in Abbotstown. The bid is based on having six stadia in Scotland, with two in the Republic but Bertie Ahern's proposal to build a new stadium on the outskirts of Dublin was vetoed when the government claimed it was not in a position to provide Exchequer funding.
Lansdowne Road is one of the Stadia intended for use with Croke Park being the other although GAA chiefs have yet to give the go-ahead to the use of their stadium.
A UEFA delegation is due to arrive in Dublin on Monday to assess the bid but Lyons maintains the bid will now merely switch their attention to private funding for the second Irish stadium.
He said, "This wasn't an unexpected shift but it does mean that the Government must now aggressively pursue private backing. Depending on the size of the stadium, this is eminently achievable. The other thing which shifts is timing. Private funding will generally result in faster construction time than publicly funded work. We have been talking to the UEFA delegation this morning and we will present to them on Monday what the situation is."
Filed by Johnny Proby
