Government differences endanger bid

SOCCER/Euro 2008: The joint bid by Scotland and Ireland to stage the European Championship in 2008 came under threat last night as senior members of the Government here struggled to agree a basis on which they could confirm their involvement to their counterparts in Edinburgh.

Talks between the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tánaiste Mary Harney and Minister for Sport Dr Jim McDaid were scheduled for yesterday and the three met before the day's Cabinet meeting specifically to deal with the issue. It was expected that by the end of the meeting they would have agreed the basic outline of a reply to a letter from Jack McConnell, the Scottish First Minister, requesting that the Government confirm its enthusiasm for proceeding with the bid.

As it turned out, however, the issue of which venues might be used continued to prove a major stumbling block between the two parties and talks on the issue are expected to continue throughout today.

The delay in confirming the Government's position is likely to cause considerable anxiety to the two football associations involved in the bid as the deadline for informing UEFA which bids will proceed is tomorrow and the position of the two government needs to be clarified before anything can be forwarded to European football's governing body.

The basic problem, however, remains the difference of opinion between the two parties over whether the proposed National Stadium or Croke Park should be presented, along with a revamped Lansdowne Road, as one of Ireland's two venues for the tournament.

"The talks are ongoing, but it is likely to be tomorrow evening before any concrete decision is reached," said an official close to Dr McDaid last night while a spokesman for Mary Harney said that "an announcement will be made on Thursday to coincide with the deadline".

The fact that the difficulties have already delayed the formulation of a reply to the Scots tends, however, to undermine Dr McDaid's previously-stated position that the issue of which venues would be used could be decided at a later date.

Under the rules of the bid process, Ireland could put forward all three venues and make a final choice at a much later stage. The looming general election appears, however, to have complicated matters by obliging the two Government parties to adopt positions that will be in line with their forthcoming manifestos.

Fianna Fáil sources have confirmed this week that the construction of a national stadium will be included in their pre-election commitments, but the position of their partners in government is far less certain, despite the fact that it was claimed in the aftermath of the High-Point Rendell report into the feasibility of the entire Campus Ireland project that both parties were of the opinion that the stadium element of the plan remained desirable.

Both parties concede that a commitment to proceed with the bid at this stage would make a withdrawal prior to the May 31st deadline for submission of completed proposals to UEFA highly embarrassing. The fact that the Scots authorities have made their involvement conditional on that of Ireland's has had the effect of heightening the stakes.

In the circumstances it is regarded as unlikely that the Progressive Democrats will want to be seen to have effectively pulled the plug on what is potentially such a popular proposal. But it remains unclear what basis might be agreed for moving forward, and neither side was entirely ruling out the possibility that the entire scheme could collapse over the coming days.

The PDs' preference for involving Croke Park in the bid depends on a change to the GAA's Rule 42, something that has been recommended by the association's Strategic Review Committee but which is not likely to be voted upon until May, the same month that the general election is likely to take place.

Even if the relevant rule was altered in line with the recommendation, the decision on whether to make the stadium available would rest with the association's Central Council and, given the traditional early-summer dates for the soccer tournament, their co-operation would be far from a foregone conclusion.

Any proposal to rely on the proposed national stadium is, on the face of it, only slightly more solid, with Fine Gael already having stated their opposition to proceeding with the project if they form part of the next government.

Like the Progressive Democrats, however, the expectation is that, in the event that Michael Noonan's party does end up being part of the next government it would be reluctant to kill off a bid that was seen as having any chance of success.

Any decision to pull out now would also cause problems for McConnell's Scottish Executive, which was accused at the time of its decision to pursue a joint rather than a solo bid of paving the way for the collapse of Scotland's involvement in the process.

It would also represent a major blow to the football associations in both Ireland and Scotland who each stand to gain substantially in terms of public funding and investment in facilities.