A total of 76 players, drawn from each of the four provinces, have been offered part-time or full-time contracts by the Irish Rugby Football Union. Each province has the right to nominate 30 players but because of current ongoing assessments and fitness training, the four full provincial squads will not be finalised until the middle of next month. Of the present group of 76, 16 players are from Connacht, 25 from Leinster, 15 from Munster and 20 from Ulster.

The overall group includes predominantly part-time players, with only five full-time from Connacht, four from Leinster and three each from Munster and Ulster. None of the players involved was selected in the recently announced national squad. The full-time players will be offered a £25,000 retainer, plus a win bonus of £500 in the Heineken Cup and European conference. The offer to the part-time players is a retainer of £7,500 plus five types of bonus. These are: £350 for a provincial warm-up match, £400 match fee in the Irish Inter-Provincial Championship, Heineken Cup match fee of £800, a European Conference match fee of £500 and a bonus of £450 for a Heineken Cup or European Conference win.

Thirteen full international players are included in the group of 76, but only five of them are full-time. They are Henry Hurley (Old Wesley), Dominic Crotty (Garryowen), Mick Galwey (Shannon), Anthony Foley (Shannon) and Mark McCall (Dungannon).

"This is a critical step in our programme to re-establish Ireland as a major force in world rugby," said IRFU president Niall Brophy.

"We have various programmes designed which will ensure that Irish rugby gets the maximum return from major financial investments which the union is making in the game," he added.