FAI officials lost no time yesterday in dismissing suggestions that permission to continue using temporary seating at competitive international games at Lansdowne Road, has been withdrawn by FIFA.
Reacting to reports that the association could be facing a serious loss of revenue from home games in the next World Cup qualifying programme, chief executive Bernard O'Byrne said that they were without substance.
"Newspaper reports are suggesting that FIFA will refuse us permission to install temporary seating for the World Cup games," he said. "These reports have no foundation and are totally untrue.
"In the past, we never had any difficulty with either FIFA or UEFA regarding the temporary seats we erect at Lansdowne Road for our competitive games and I can assure all Irish fans that this will be the case in the future.
"The `bucket seats', as they are known and which are imported specially from Britain, will continue to be available for our competitive matches."
FIFA sources said that no fresh directives had been issued on the use of temporary seating. "Member associations have been reminded of the restrictions which apply for competitive games but these are unchanged from the past," said a spokesman.
"There is no objection at this end to the use of bucket seats. That is primarily, a matter for the FAI and if they chose to install them for competitive games, they will do so with our approval."
With the introduction of the ban on standing spectators in the wake of the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters, the attendance ceiling at Lansdowne Road for World Cup and European championship games, dropped from 49,000 to just over 30,000.
Given the high profile of these games, the reduced capacity presented the association with even greater problems and it was in this situation, that they decided to embark on the policy of implementing temporary measures, designed to accommodate almost another 3,000 spectators.
FIFA's ban on standing spectators, originally acclaimed as a significant advance in the crusade for greater safety and additional comfort on football's bigger occasions, has not been without its critics in more recent times.
Many national federations have complained that it is excessively costly to implement and several of have been given permission to flout the regulations on the premise that they don't have the resources to adapt stadiums to comply with the new legislation.
The FAI said yesterday that it is hoped to have a full World Cup build-up programme in place within the next two months. Ireland face the Czech Republic at Lansdowne Road on February 23rd and it is proposed to arrange at least two other fixtures before the start of the US Cup on June 3rd.
