By Paul Doyleand Paul O'Hehir
FAI general secretary, Brendan Menton, this afternoon insisted that Saturday¿s decision by GAA Congress to keep soccer and rugby out of Croke Park "does not change anything in terms of the 2008 European Championship."
Under the terms of the joint bid with Scotland, Ireland has to provide two all-seater stadiums to complement the Scottish contribution of four.
Following the news that Croke Park will not be available, the two Irish stadiums will have to be a revamped Lansdowne Road and the proposed Stadium Ireland at Abbotstown.
"Basically I'm going to refer back to the decision by the Government at the end of February when they committed to putting all the infrastructure in place if the bid is successful," explained Menton.
"I should also point out that building Stadium Ireland is not contingent on us hosting Euro 2008. It is something that has to be built anyway and all 67 national sporting governing bodies are fully behind it."
While further debate on Rule 42 could yet be heard at a Special GAA Congress in October, it is now imperative that the Government's plan to build the stadium gathers serious momentum if the joint bid to stage Euro 2008 is to remain viable.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has long supported the construction of Stadium Ireland but he must secure re-election at next month's general election and then overcome political hostility to the project's cost if construction is to get underway.
Menton is convinced that the fact that one of Ireland's proposed stadiums does not actually exist and the other needs to be drastically overhauled will not hamper the chances of meeting UEFA's approval.
"Ourselves and Scotland will be putting on an exhibition in Stockholm in August and I think that's when you will see that we have a very strong bid," he said.
"You have to remember that many of our rivals are making the construction of new stadiums contingent on being named host country. Indeed, look at the situation with Portugal in 2004 where only now are they beginning to build their stadiums."
Speaking last Saturday, the Scottish Football Association said: "We were looking at choosing two out of three venues in Ireland. The decision [by Congress not to amend Rule 42] will just focus people's attention on Lansdowne Road and a new national stadium."
Ireland's lack of a first class stadium, however, could start to cause major headaches way before 2008. UEFA have now banned temporary seating in stadiums meaning that Lansdowne Road's capacity for the Euro 2004 qualifiers, which begin next October, will be as little as 21,000.
Menton said today that the FAI are "confident" of being granted an exemption for the duration of the Euro 2004 qualifiers to be allowed continue using the so-called `bucket-seats', but admitted that the FAI have not yet applied for this dispensation. He also admitted that there is virtually no chance of FIFA being so lenient when it comes to the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.