Uncertainty over Ireland's ability to deliver two stadiums appears to have been a key factor in the failure of the Irish/Scottish joint bid to host the 2008 European football championships, write Emmet Malone and Mark Hennessy
However, the Minister for Arts and Sport, Mr O'Donoghue, last night rejected claims that the failure to make a commitment to two venues had lost the bid.
He said it had not been possible to give an absolute guarantee about the use of Croke Park, as they could only state the facts.
The Taoiseach last night put a brave face on the outcome and said he now wanted Ireland to be part of a bid to host the 2012 European soccer championships.
Saying he was "very disappointed" that the Scottish/Irish bid was unsuccessful, Mr Ahern said the two countries had "put forward a very impressive bid and could not have fought a harder battle". He congratulated Austria and Switzerland on their success. In his statement issued through a spokeswoman, he did not refer to the belief that the uncertainty in Ireland over stadium facilities had contributed to the failure. Government sources said he would wait for such details to emerge.
The Irish/Scottish bid failed to make the shortlist drawn up by UEFA's executive committee. The Alpine bid put forward jointly by Austria and Switzerland was successful.
Sources said afterwards that the Scottish and Irish bid had been damaged by two factors: the cluster of three major venues in Glasgow and the absence of any in Dublin. There was considerable shock among Irish and Scottish soccer officials that UEFA's influential national teams committee had not included the joint bid on the short-list of four forwarded to the executive committee members
Mr Brendan Menton, of the FAI, who played a central role in pushing the bid over the last year, expressed his disappointment.
"We thought that we had a strong case and that we would have had a good tournament. The feedback from the presentation yesterday was very positive, but unfortunately in these things there is only one winner," he said.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael last night claimed that defeat was inevitable due to the Government's failure to back a guarantee that two stadiums would be available.
"The Government must take responsibility for the unsuccessful outcome. But for their interference with the FAI and GAA, the probability is that the bid would have been successful," Mr Jimmy Deenihan said.
The leader of the Labour Party, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the UEFA decision had not come as "a major surprise" given the uncertainty about the availability of stadiums.
"At the end of the day, UEFA has clearly decided that the Taoiseach could not be relied upon to deliver on the written commitments he gave this week," he said.