Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has praised the multi-billionaire Denis O'Brien  for offering to pay half of the cost of Ireland's new international manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, reports Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent.

"It is good there are people out there who are prepared to put money into sport. It sounds a lot of money for one individual to do, but I have always said to sponsors that it is a good thing to put money into sport, so fair play to him," Ahern told The Irish Times last night.

The Italian, he said, "is a successful manager and has the status of winning in four different countries. As a player and as a manager he has been associated with all the big teams in Europe."

He said he hoped the Italian's arrival would help to bind the team together and bring back the glory days of the late 1980s and early 1990s: "People have for a long time said if we could get a quality manager then we could pull the team together. I wish him well. I wish the team well."