Stadium row to continue after short ceasefire

The FAI's dream of building itself a new home on the outskirts of Dublin staggered a little closer to the second anniversary of its inception last night when critics of the scheme, including the association's treasurer Brendan Menton, received assurances that they would have all the information they have been seeking about the project by December 11th.

At a six-hour meeting of the association's directors in Merrion Square, members of the Board of Management were told that legal advice had been obtained which supported Menton's assertion that he and the rest of the board members were entitled to all of the latest costings and projected income relating to the scheme.

Although the next meeting of the board will take place on December 8th, it was agreed that all of the required information will be delivered by the 11th. Both sides appeared to be reasonably happy with the schedule last night, even if it means there will not be an opportunity to discuss whatever figures are revealed until January, a matter of days before the second anniversary of the project's launch at the Burlington Hotel.

"On balance, I'd have to say that I'm pleased because I think that what happened this evening has vindicated the stand taken by me and those who supported me a couple of weeks ago when I insisted we should be given these figures," said Menton last night.

"I think that when we get these figures everybody will have a far clearer idea of what the sort of money involved here is," he added. "And I think that what will be seen is that the true cost of what we are talking about is somewhere between £120 million and £130 million, rather than the £90 million or so currently envisaged in the business plan."

Menton seemed confident that, despite his failure to acquire these details when he originally sought them and his eventual decision to threaten High Court action if they were not made available, he would now receive what he has been looking for. A number of his supporters were quick to point out, however, that if there are problems with the agreement reached last night, the prospect of the matter being pursued in the courts is still a very real one.

FAI chief executive Bernard O'Byrne, meanwhile, described the meeting as having been "good" with "plenty of discussion" of the issues. "It was passionate rather than heated," he remarked, "and that was to be expected given that there were so many people in there with strong views on the project. "But it produced a frank exchange and we agreed a timetable for the provision of the information, all of which is positive."

O'Byrne maintained that even after all of the information in question is released, the controversial project will retain support from the majority of club and league representatives.

The information being sought includes details of how many sales of premium seats and corporate boxes have been made by IMG, one of the FAI's partners in the project. Those who have opposed the project publicly for some time predict the figures will be so damning that many of those who have remained unattached to either camp will finally be convinced that the sums do not add up.

The difficulty for O'Byrne and those in favour of the scheme is that there will be two further meetings of the directors between the release of the latest figures in two weeks' time and the start of the appeal against planning permission by An Bord Pleanala. The viability of the stadium is certain to be high on the agenda on each occasion.

In fact, local residents who are appealing the decision by South Dublin County Council believe that the association's prediction that an appeal might be under way by February is extremely optimistic, with their estimate being somewhere closer to the summer.

If true that will, in turn, have further implications for the estimated cost of the project.

IMG, meanwhile, was also at the heart of yesterday's other major dispute, with many delegates questioning the series of events that led to the company promising £30,000 of the association's money to Umbro as compensation arising out of the change in shirt sponsor from Opel to Eircom.

O'Byrne has consistently denied that he had any knowledge of the commitment and last night his version of events, that "they were told to do a deal and so they went off and did it," without reporting back to the association, was accepted by a majority of the directors.

Many expressed their anger, however, that the company would "spend £30,000 of the association's money entirely off its own bat". It was agreed that a letter would be sent to the company's representatives in Ireland seeking clarification on the entire incident.

"The circumstances were a little unusual," said O'Byrne when asked to explain how a change in design would require compensation being paid to a company which would normally welcome the opportunity to market a major new range of merchandise.

"A decision was taken to change sponsors at very short notice and so the circumstances were very different to those that would prevail at a club or in the normal course of events with the FAI, where some notice would normally be given before something like this happened."