Last day to bid for stadium

AT LEAST four major property developers are believed to have formally expressed interest in building a national stadium.

The deadline for firms seeking to get involved in the project expires at noon today, but there are still major doubts whether the stadium will ever get off the ground.

Sports Minister John O’Donoghue is to consider the entries over the next month and will report back to Cabinet whether it should issue tenders for a national stadium.

A spokesman for the minister said last night there had been “significant interest” in the project but did not say how many firms have been in contact with the department.

However, at least four consortiums interested in the project have been in contact with the FAI and the IRFU.

Property developer Noel Smyth is believed among those.

International Management Group (IMG), a sports and marketing agency founded by Mark McCormack, is also thought to have written to the Department.

The entries include broad outlines of a proposed stadium and details of the financial and technical expertise the interested parties would bring to the project.

The Government has promised no public money will be spent on the project, but the developer will get the 500-acre site at Abbotstown for free.

It has cost millions of euro to move State laboratories from the lands originally earmarked for Sports Campus Ireland.

The deadline for expressions of interest comes just seven weeks before UEFA must make its final decision on who will host the 2008 European soccer championships.

If the joint Irish/Scottish bid is to succeed, the Scottish and Irish football associations must be able to convince the UEFA before then that two suitable stadiums will be available in time.

The bid has been badly hit by confusion over the stadium and the refusal of the GAA to allow Croke Park to be used for soccer.

Advertisements have been placed in newspapers by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, inviting non-binding expressions of interest in the provision of a stadium with a capacity of at least 65,000 spectators.