St Patrick's Athletic have refused to give up on the proposed building of a state-of-the-art stadium in Inchicore despite the confirmation on Monday that 472 houses will be built in the area instead.
In April, the Saints announced proposals to construct the Richmond Arena as part of an overall City Development Plan that would include new houses, a shopping complex and an underground car park.
Today, Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy confirmed that instead 472 housing units will be constructed - 330 of them cost-rental and the remainder social housing.
That seemed to leave the Saints' hopes dead in the water, but they vowed to continue to pursue the proposal which they believe can work alongside the plans unveiled today.
"Since our proposal was published we have been very encouraged by the widespread support which it received in the local community and from many public representatives who have a deep understanding of Inchicore and its needs," club president Tom O'Mahony said in a statement.
"Some days ago, we were informed by Dublin City Council that an announcement was imminent which would not include our proposal.
"The reasons which were given for rejecting our proposal, such as, for example, that it would require variations to the Dublin City Development Plan, are issues which could be resolved if there was a willingness to accept that the benefits of our proposal far exceed those of the alternative.
"Indeed, we have discussed earlier versions of our proposal with the City Council, at the highest level, on a number of occasions over the past decade, and until now they were always supportive and did not raise any difficulties in relation to the development planning aspects.
"It was also suggested that our proposal carried the risk of delaying the project. We believe that it can be delivered as quickly as the alternative but, in any case, given the long history of inaction on the site, a further small delay would be a small price to pay for getting the right outcome.
"We have a responsibility to the local community to continue to pursue our proposal, which can be compatible with the housing objectives of today's announcement, and we will continue to do so.
"In particular, we will share with the City Council an independent retail study which shows that a development such as ours would be critical to the regeneration and revitalisation of Inchicore.
"The response we received from Dublin City Council included a commitment to support the redevelopment of Richmond Park and/or the development of alternative grounds for St Patrick's Athletic.
"While our preferred option remains the development of an arena as part of the redevelopment of St Michael's Estate, we will also engage with the Council in relation to this commitment."
