The long-running saga involving the payout of grant money to intercounty GAA players took another twist yesterday when Minister for Sport Séamus Brennan admitted there was no such funding allocated in the Book of Estimates for the upcoming Government Budget for 2008. Ian O'Riordanreports

However, Brennan still didn't consider that an insurmountable obstacle in approving some sort of grants scheme ahead of the threatened withdrawal of players from intercounty activity when the new season begins in January. Yet it's clearly another stumbling block in the continuing negotiations between the Government, the GAA, and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA).

"If you had to pay money out next year, I'd have to go out looking for money," said Brennan. "But the Sports Council is there, there is a sports budget there, and there's always timing issues to do with budgets. I can always move other projects around if I had to do that. I'm not saying I couldn't do it, but there's no specific line in the Budget for it just now. It doesn't mean we can't do something."

Brennan, somewhat ironically, was speaking at the announcement of performance-incentive payments for other sports, most of which are also amateur. It was one of his first public appearances since the negotiations took on a new meaning in light of the strike threat, and overall he presented a positive picture of where the negotiations are going.

"There are discussions taking place, and I'm optimistic that in the next week or so we'll be able to make good, solid progress. So it's just fingers crossed, and a bit of goodwill all round. But I think another week or so should see it settled.

"My job is to try to get a consensus here, that the Government, the GPA, and the GAA can all live with. And the people of Ireland, the taxpayer, can live with. I'm confident we can get there. I've talked to all sides, and sense goodwill there."

The Minister wouldn't be drawn into any details of those negotiations, but in the meantime there have been some jolts to the process in that it has been suggested the figure of €5 million originally promised by Brennan's predecessor John O'Donoghue, would be revised downwards, and also that the grant proposal would simply involve a once-off payment.

In addition, Brennan declined to confirm whether or not the original figure of €5 million was still on the table in its entirety: "I have no figures at all available to me at this stage. That's the figure I saw mentioned, but it's not helpful for me to go into any figures. The discussions that are going on I presume talk about the kind of figures that are in the air, but it's not so much about figures.

"It's about getting an arrangement that acknowledges the fine work of the GPA and the players, and salutes the great work of the GAA, and also to make sure we acknowledge that in a way that's fair to the taxpayer. Getting that balance is what I'm trying to do."

Brennan did suggest, however, some sort of compromise was likely, and that not everyone should expect to get what they want. Referring to his vast experience as a negotiator, he said: "You're looking at a guy that negotiated with the Greens, for ages, in Government. And did a lot of negotiations down the years.

"The best negotiations often are where nobody gets everything they want, but everybody can hold their head high, and got something from the negotiations, that their members can be happy with. So I don't expect everyone to be ecstatic about any of the negotiations, but I do think we can arrive at conclusions that will make some good, solid process."

While the Irish Sports Council have been brought in to help with the negotiations, Brennan made it clear he wasn't about to burden them with the responsibility of handling the grants. "They are advising me on this issue, and if we need to use them, and that turns out to be the right mechanism, we certainly would use them. But I expect any proposals put to me will be practical ones, and won't involve massive bureaucracy."

The Down football board issued a statement yesterday rejecting reports their panel had voted to oppose the GPA strike action: "The . . . squad supports the majority decision of the GPA strike ballot and while . . we hope this action can be averted, we will be supporting the GPA stand."