The Government is to hold talks over the next month with the Scottish Executive on a bid to host the 2008 European Soccer Championships.
The bid, announced yesterday, will heighten debate over the Stadium Ireland project. The project has been enthusiastically supported by the Taoiseach, but not by the Tánaiste.
Senior football officials from Dublin and Glasgow will meet in Porto, Portugal, today to hammer out details of the joint bid.
The Scottish First Minister, Mr Jack McConnell, said he hoped Ireland and Scotland would be able to decide whether to proceed by February 28th.
However, there were doubts in Dublin as to whether a bid could go ahead. A Government spokesman said there was currently no suitable stadium available in Ireland to host the matches.
Stadiums for the championships, the third-largest sporting event in the world after the soccer World Cup and the Olympic game, must be able to seat between 30,000 and 40,000 spectators at a minimum.
A decision to bid against offers from Austria and Hungary, Scandinavia and others would give a major boost to supporters of the Stadium Ireland project.
However, there is little sense of urgency about deciding on the matter, with Government spok- esmen saying the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have yet to discuss the matter.
The Tánaiste has made known her scepticism about the cost of the stadium project. A Progressive Democrats spokesman would not be drawn on the issue yesterday.
Fine Gael welcomed the bid, but insisted Stadium Ireland was not necessary for it to go ahead.
Labour's sport spokesman, Mr Brian O'Shea, welcomed the bid but said the consultants' report on Stadium Ireland should be published immediately.