Stadium spending cap to be lifted

The FAI's board of management last night agreed to lift the spending cap on Eircom Park in order to allow a professional assessment of the conditions attached to last week's decision by South Dublin County Council to grant planning permission for the 45,000-seat stadium in Citywest.

The amount agreed, which runs into the low tens of thousands, is small but remains a significant step forward for supporters of the project. The intention now is that the association will pay outside professionals to assess the various conditions voted on by councillors, including FAI contributions towards the cost of road improvements around the proposed stadium.

An expected review of the overall costings of the project was also agreed at last night's meeting. It remains uncertain, however, when the review will get underway. FAI chief executive, Bernard O'Byrne, last night pointed out that the financial review was something that the board had always been committed to.

There was some bad news for his campaign to get the stadium built, though, when National League chairman, Michael Hyland, announced he was stepping down as a member of the board of Centime Ltd - the company established by the association to manage the project. Hyland blames pressure of time for his decision.

With FAI treasurer, Brendan Menton, already having departed Centime, last night's meeting decided to elect three new board members with Ollie Byrne of Shelbourne, Athlone Town's Noel Heavey and Fergus McArdle of Dundalk joining the holding company's board of directors.