Eureto, the Irish consortium bidding to manage the European Union's new .eu internet domain, believes its concentration on business expertise and a detailed policy structure will help it win the project.

The group, whose board includes businessman Mr Paul Kavanagh, former Irish ambassador to the US, Mr Seán Donlon, former Labour party leader and Tánaiste, Mr Dick Spring, and former foreign minister, Mr David Andrews, submitted its 4,000-page formal bid two weeks ago.

Eureto has also announced that its technical partner in the bid will be Afilias, a Dublin-based company which administers the .info domain and provides registration support for the .org domain.

According to French press coverage, some European commentators consider the Irish bid to be a strong contender. It is supported by governments on both sides of the Border and proposes operations in Letterkenny and Derry.

Mr Kavanagh said he believed Eureto was the only bidder with a combined technical and business focus. Running the .eu domain would be "a significant business and would need substantial borrowings to run. We have already received the backing of two banks and for that we needed people with international reputations and business profiles".

Other directors include: Mr Jean-Christophe le Toquin, a barrister, spokesman for the French Internet Service Providers Association and vice-president of EuroISPA; Mr Axel Pawlik, managing director of RIPE Network Co-ordination Centre, a regional internet registry for internet addresses; and Mr Rudi Bric, chief executive of software company Hermes Softlab and vice-chairman of the Council for Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia.

The EU will makes its final decision in June next year and the .eu domain is expected to go live from 2004. Eureto is expected to lobby vigorously in Europe for the bid.