The cost of moving the Department of Agriculture's research facilities from Dublin to Co Kildare, in order to clear the site for the new national sports stadium, will be about £60 million.
Some 200 staff will be moved from Abbotstown, Co Dublin, to the State-owned Backweston Farm, between Lucan, Co Dublin, and Celbridge, Co Kildare. The move will involve the relocation of the veterinary research laboratories, the seed-testing station, the central meat control laboratories, the pesticides control unit and a farm.
The clearance of the Abbotstown site will also involve the relocation of the Marine Institute laboratories and 60 staff to Galway, and the transfer of the State Laboratory and its 70 staff to Backweston Farm.
Backweston, in the constituency of the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, is owned by the State and was previously used for tillage trials and research.
The Department of Finance said costings for the relocation programme were still being discussed, but a Department of Agriculture spokesman said his Department's costs would be in the region of £60 million.
Work on a £3 million extension to the State Laboratory was stopped this week.