FIFA says no decision yet made on seating

News: FIFA has further clarified its position in regard to the continued use of temporary seating at Lansdowne Road, with its media officer, Nicolas Maingot, insisting that the organisation has made no decision on whether to permit the structures at the Dublin stadium if the FAI fails to come up with a firm commitment that a new stadium is to be built here.

Asked if FIFA had informed the Irish association that the use of temporary seating during the next World Cup campaign would be prohibited in the absence of a longer term plan to dispense with them, Maingot said that it had not.

"No, that's not what we are saying. What we have said is that we are unhappy with the situation and what we have said is that we are in touch with the Irish authorities in order to find a solution to the problem.

"As we have not had a solution to the problem there is still a difficulty, but the next qualifying game in Dublin is unlikely to take place before September and so we have some time to consider the matter again."

Maingot added that permission to use temporary seating is generally granted by FIFA in what the organisation considers to be "exceptional" circumstances, "and that cannot be said of a situation that continues for this amount of time.

"It is the general policy of FIFA that temporary seats are provisional, and we are unhappy that in Dublin they have been used for so long.

"But if no solution is put forward we will have to consider the situation again."

Leading FAI officials have consistently claimed that a derogation from FIFA which allowed the use of the seats during Ireland's most recent qualification campaign had now expired and that Walter Gagg, the international organisation's most senior official in the area of stadium security, had made it clear while visiting Dublin in July that no further derogation would be granted unless a plan to replace the seats were put forward.

The association has used this threat as part of its case for Government funding for a new stadium, and FAI chief executive Fran Rooney insisted on Tuesday that while speaking with Gagg that morning he had been informed that the position remained unchanged.

A Government decision on whether to partly fund either the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road or the construction of a new ground at Abbotstown is expected by the end of the month, and it is now widely expected that the Lansdowne Road proposal will get the go ahead.

Rooney has said that the association would move important international games to Britain rather than play them in front of crowds of just 22,000 in the event that the use of temporary seating is prohibited.

Contacts have taken place with a number of British clubs about the possibility of staging games, and officials at Celtic had publicly stated that they would be interested in staging Ireland international matches.

Earlier this week it was reported in a national paper that Glasgow city council had difficulties with this proposal, but this was denied yesterday.

In a statement, the council made clear that it would have no objection in the event that agreement were reached on staging Ireland games at Celtic Park and had no view on whether the city's police authorities would allow such a game to be staged on the same day Scotland were playing at home.

St Patrick's Athletic, meanwhile, have become the latest eircom League club to announce that it is making cutbacks in an effort to secure its long-term financial future. The budget for both playing and non-playing staff at the club is to be reduced, and chairman Andy O'Callaghan has said that new investors are being sought.

"It has been a difficult decision to make," said O'Callaghan, "but the priority of everyone involved with the club is to secure the future stability of the club, and without additional funding we have no option but to make reductions."