Music promoter Denis Desmond is developing plans for a €100 million national arena in the greater Dublin area to accommodate up to 17,000 people, The Irish Times has learned.

Arguing that the biggest acts favour a one-night, one-appearance approach to performing, Mr Desmond is understood to be saying that artists of international standing are no longer willing to perform a series of concerts in a single venue over several nights.

Mr Desmond's company, MCD Productions, is understood to have approached a number of public bodies with his plan for an "international leisure event village". As well as the arena, the plans include a 600-room, three-star hotel and numerous restaurants and bars.

Given the potential to use the arena as a tourist attraction in its own right, Mr Desmond's position is believed to be that the venue would be akin to a piece of national infrastructure.

Some 40-50 acres of land are required for the plan and one of the four areas under examination is the Government-owned Abbotstown site in west Dublin, formerly earmarked for a defunct national stadium initiative.

The others are: the former Irish Glass Bottle plant in Ringsend in the south city; a site off Oscar Traynor Road in Coolock in the north city; and a site at Balgaddy near Clondalkin, west Dublin. The owners of the Balgaddy site include South Dublin County Council and Treasury Holdings.

Mr Desmond wants to enter a long-term commercial leasing or profit-sharing deal with a land-owner. Because the venue could host up to 180 events a year, it might involve the movement of some eight million people a year. For this reason, access to the public transport and road networks is crucial.

While that would favour the Abbotstown and Balgaddy sites, Mr Desmond is understood to have looked seriously at the Ringsend and Coolock options.