Cork property developer Owen O'Callaghan has emerged as a potential backer of the proposed €7 billion theme park in north Co Dublin.
A spokesman for Mr O'Callaghan confirmed yesterday that his firm, O'Callaghan Properties, had been approached by the Vega City Consortium in relation to the project.
"Obviously this is a huge and complex proposal, and a good one for Fingal and Ireland," a spokesman said. "O'Callaghan Properties has examined it and are currently in discussions [with the developer]".
However, the company had not yet taken a decision on whether it would be getting involved in the multi-billion euro project.
O'Callaghan Properties is one of three major potential investors in the project. The other two - as yet unidentified - companies are believed to be from outside the State.
Yesterday, Vega City Consortium, headed by businessman Mr Louis Maguire jnr, confirmed its plans for a 2000-acre theme park outside Lusk, which would generate up to 25,000 jobs.
"The project, which is at a very early stage in its development, is subject to the consortium firstly concluding legal contracts with landowners, and then securing planning permission at some time in the future," according to a statement yesterday.
"In the event of securing planning permission, the consortium estimates that the first visitors to Vega City would be in approximately four years from the date of approval."
The consortium is attempting to secure options on 2000 acres of land, from 20 landowners and householders, in order to make a planning application to Fingal County Council.
Mr Louis Maguire has been in detailed discussions with up to 20 different land and home-owners within the proposed zone, located near Lusk, eight miles from Swords.
He has been offering up to €115,000 per acre of agricultural land, and up to double the market price for houses within the proposed location.
He has also promised landowners an initial payment of 3,000 per acre to secure the land options. No money has been paid over to date.
He has held meetings with senior officials from Fingal County Council, and local politicians, including Fianna Fail TD, Mr Jim Glennon.
Mr Glennon said that the proposal was still "entirely aspirational", and that no planning application could be made for the theme park until the consortium had secured options on all 2,000 acres.
"They can't even apply for planning permission for a garden shed until that happens," he said.
A previous attempt at putting together a similar site in west Dublin, close to Baldonnel Aerodrome, failed earlier this year.
However, landowners in the proposed zone are enthusiastic.
A farmer, Mr Liam Cooney, said he was "very hopeful" about the proposal. "It's a very attractive proposition," he said.
Despite the size of the project, Mr Maguire is a relative unknown in the property-development world.
Along with his father, Mr Louis Maguire snr, he owned a water-bottling plant in Wicklow during the 1990s. The Wicklow Springs plant, near Manor Kilbride, was the subject of a major planning controversy when it emerged the factory had been built with no planning permission.
More recently, Mr Maguire has been involved in television, as the backer and producer of Haunted House, a reality television show for TV3.
The show ran into financial difficulties, and its broadcast was delayed by nearly three months due to disputes over payment between Mr Maguire's television production company, Funny Stuff TV, and staff who had worked on the programme. The dispute was eventually resolved and the programme aired in June.