The Council for the West has said that if the Government insists on building a new national stadium, it should be west of the Shannon.
"It should not be sited in already-over-developed and gridlocked Dublin," Mr Seán Hannick, chairman of the council, has said. Also, if the Government was seriously committed to decentralisation, a location outside Dublin was the only option, he stressed.
Mr Hannick, who is based in Co Mayo, has suggested that Athlone, Co Westmeath, or Ballinasloe, Co Galway, would be more suitable. This was provided that the motorway planned between Dublin and Galway was not "a victim of cutbacks", he added.
Improved road connections would also make Roscommon a viable location, he said.
"If the Dublin to Galway motorway is to be built as promised, then there is every reason to locate a major project like the national stadium in the provinces," Mr Hannick said.
"It would take less time to travel to the venues mentioned during peak travel times than it takes to get from Bray, Co Wicklow, to Abbotstown, Co Dublin, or even the city centre," he emphasised.
Mr Hannick stressed he was not endorsing construction of the stadium, as there were still "sufficient question marks" over it.
His priority was to ensure that essential infrastructure was provided for the regions.
"But if the Government is determined to proceed with it, the least it could do is to ensure that it fits in with the National Development Plan. This commits the Government to balance regional development,"he said.
After the general election, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats agreed in the Programme for Government that they would build a national stadium, though no mention was made of the original Abbotstown location or the full sports campus favoured by the Taoiseach. An inter-departmental committee was set up to look at the project.
Last June, it emerged that business figures had urged the Government to build it in Ringsend in Dublin's inner city, if it didn't go ahead with Abbotstown.
