The Tánaiste has announced that she is open to giving Exchequer funding to redevelop Lansdowne Road or even to build a new stadium in Dublin, paving the way for detailed negotiations between the Government, the IRFU and the FAI on a stadium project.
In a highly significant intervention, Ms Harney said yesterday that Government financial support would be forthcoming in the context of the rugby and soccer ruling bodies agreeing on a project. That could involve redeveloping Lansdowne Road or building at another Dublin venue, she said, while restating her opposition to a new stadium at Abbotstown.
Ms Harney's comments remove doubts over whether Exchequer funding would be available in principle for a stadium development.
"This is a hopeful sign of gathering momentum," an IRFU spokesman said last night.
While the PDs have in the past signalled support for the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road, this is the first explicit commitment by the Tánaiste that money would be available to a suitable project other than the Abbotstown proposal, to which the party has long objected.
The IRFU and the FAI have had a number of meetings with ministers in recent weeks with a view to agreeing a tripartite project with the Government. While many within the sporting organisations favour a major rebuilding of Lansdowne Road to a 60,000- or 65,000- capacity stadium, other sites in Dublin 4 - at the Irish Glass Bottle Company or a south docklands site - have not been ruled out.
Sources close to these talks said last night that projects being considered could cost between €300 million and €350 million. The IRFU and FAI could raise substantial sums, including through advance sales of 10-year tickets to see international matches.
However while no detailed calculations had been made, the sources believed that the Exchequer contribution would have to be between €100 million and €150 million to make such a project viable.
The final cost of any such project is highly unpredictable and depends on the size and quality of venue to be developed and whether it has extra features such as a roof.
The Minister for Sport, Mr O'Donoghue, told the Dáil last week that he would bring proposals to Cabinet "shortly". Yesterday's comments by Ms Harney make it clear that there will be no objection in principle from the PDs to State funding if a suitable project is agreed, so long as it is not at Abbotstown.
A decision to go ahead with a major redevelopment at Lansdowne or a new stadium elsewhere in Dublin 4 would effectively kill off the proposal, long championed by the Taoiseach, to develop a major sports campus at Abbotstown, with a stadium at its centre.
The Department of Sport is still assessing "expressions of interest" from private interests in building a stadium there.
All potential developers have sought State aid, such as free land or tax breaks. It is not known whether the value of the Exchequer contribution required for Abbotstown would be greater than for a Lansdowne Road refurbishment.
Ms Harney told RTÉ radio's This Week programme yesterday: "I understand that the IRFU and the FAI may be coming forward with proposals for Lansdowne Road or maybe for some other venue in Dublin. Certainly in the context of that I am prepared to look at whatever comes on the table."
Asked how much she would be prepared to see the Exchequer contribute, she said: "As little as possible. I'm not going to put figures on it. If Lansdowne Road needs to be developed to provide facilities for the IRFU and the FAI, then I think the Progressive Democrats would give that consideration. The infrastructure is there, it may be a lot more cost-effective than any alternative.
"I don't want to pin my colours to money at the moment going to sports facilities of this kind until we see what plans and proposals are there, because other priorities are important and have been more important in recent times.
"I'm not agreeing to a new facility in Abbotstown. We have never ruled out the possibility of supporting the FAI and the IRFU. I don't know what the nature of that support might be."