Soccer: Shamrock Rovers chairman Tony Maguire said last night that the club have received written confirmation from South Dublin County Council that it intends to begin the work required to complete their Tallaght stadium as soon as possible.

Maguire described a meeting between club and council officials held last Friday as "extremely positive", and said that the commitments given to board members then that the council would complete the stadium in conjunction with the Government have now been confirmed in writing.

The council is talking with the directors of Mulden, the company which owns the lease on the land in question, and it is believed that all of the parties involved want to reach an agreement that would allow the public body to regain control of the site without the need to go to court.

It's been reported, however, that the company's directors are looking to recover more than €1million of the money they have spent on the project since first seeking to relocate Rovers to the area almost a decade ago.

Rovers directors met supporters of the club last night to inform them of the latest developments in the long-running saga, and Maguire insisted the latest news represents a considerable boost to the campaign to get the club into its permanent home.

The difficulty is that, while they wait to move to Tallaght, the club, which will rent Dalymount Park for their home games this season, continue to struggle to generate anything like the sort of income they need to meet day-to-day bills and keep already extensive debts, estimated at more than 1.5million, under control.

In the longer term, it remains unclear what commercial developments will be open to the club in what would effectively be a publicly owned ground, although Maguire insists that is a matter to be resolved at a later date.

"I think we can worry about that down the line a bit," he said. "The feeling within the council is that there have been too many false dawns and that they just want to get on and finish the stadium, and I'd agree with that.

"The important thing for now is that this is a significant move in the right direction for us."

Maguire added that he hoped last night's meeting would help to generate new investment, although he refused to rule out the possibility the club might need to go into examinership at some point.