Bertie Ahern has confirmed that the Government is to activate plans to build an 80,000 all-seater national sports stadium, to be operational by 2005.

The stadium, to be known as Stadium Ireland, will form the centrepiece of a state-of-the-art campus of sporting excellence which will feature an indoor arena capable of accommodating 15,000 people.

It will be built on approximately 230 acres of State-owned land at Abbotstown in north-west Dublin, close to the M50 and serviced by nearby air and rail links. Initially, some 14 potential sites were identified in the feasibility study set up to examine the project.

In choosing Abbotstown, where the State owns almost 500 acres, the stadium steering committee was influenced not merely by its accessibility but by the potential for expansion if it is necessary to reappraise the original concept.

Total cost of the complex, entitled Sports Campus Ireland, will be £230 million, which includes a capital investment of £168 million for the construction of the stadium. Of this, £50 million has been donated by the Limerick businessman, JP McManus.

Before making the formal announcement, the Taoiseach met representatives of the four major national sporting organisations, the GAA, FAI, IRFU and AAI, in addition to officials of the National Sports Council, the National Community Games and special Olympics (Ireland).

All gave their support in varying degrees, although the FAI, thought to be pivotal in the utilisation of the stadium, were later to affirm their intention of pressing ahead with plans to build their own stadium, Eircom Park.

The IRFU expressed "a lot of enthusiasm" for a project which would relieve them of a huge capital investment if and when they decide that Lansdowne Road is no longer desirable as a home for international rugby.

With the capital and depreciation costs taken care of by the Exchequer, it is estimated that an annual figure of £2.2 million needs to be raised to meet operational costs. And it is thought that this can be realised by the staging of no more than six major events.

Derek Keogh, a former chief executive of Aer Rianta, who chaired the steering committee, will act in a similar capacity for the trust which will hold the campus and stadium as assets for the nation. Paddy Teahon, shortly to leave as secretary general of the Taoiseach's office, will spend part of his time chairing the development company for the complex.

It is, by some way, the most ambitious concept in the history of Irish sport, and the moment of the occasion was not lost on Mr Ahern or the two Ministers who flanked him at yesterday's press briefing in Government buildings, Charlie McCreevy and Jim McDaid.

Stating that the nation was at a turning point in its history, the Taoiseach said: "We are now in a position to address economic and social challenges that have been beyond even our imagination in the past.

"The vision of the next century has to be about putting opportunity to work for everyone who lives on this island. And today we are talking about one vital piece of that vision.

"From the time Ronnie Delany won gold at Melbourne, many of us have derived some part of our Irishness from the courage and grace of the people who represent their county and their country in sport, athletes who have lifted the hearts and spirits of their fellow Irish people.

"At a time when we are investing in the infrastructure that our development needs, I believe strongly, that this is one vital piece of infrastructure that will help to complete the picture. As a nation, not only can we afford this undertaking - we cannot afford to let this opportunity slip."

Stating that he had already discussed the project with David Trimble, First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, he said that this would be a facility for all of the people of the island.

"This is a campus where every sporting body can find a home to suit its needs," he said. "It will, in every sense, represent a new Ireland that is confident, young, inclusive and dynamic."

Mr Ahern paid tribute to the generosity of McManus, who had set down just three conditions for his gift: that the stadium carry no sponsor's name, that it be accessible to all field sports and that it be state-of-the-art.

Bernard O'Byrne, the FAI's chief executive who is holidaying in Spain, said that the decision to build a national stadium at a time when the FAI is committed to building a new multi-functional arena might cause some to "question the lack of State planning in relation to sport".

Plans for the stadium make provision for laying a running track when required. Chris Wall, international secretary of the Athletics Association of Ireland, welcomed the project warmly.

"We think it is a very exciting venture, and as an organisation we are particularly interested in the ancillary facilities available on the campus.

"Matters like laboratory testing and other related areas are vital in the context of modern sport, and when they are available on the site of a modern, state-of-the-art stadium, they are all the more attractive to sporting organisations."

Personalities drawn from across the whole spectrum of Irish sport attended yesterday's announcement. Among them was Delany, who described it as a watershed in the evolution of Irish sport.

"If only for the fact that at last we are to have a national indoor arena capable of accommodating 15,000 spectators it would be well worthwhile," he said. "But of course, there is more, much more, to go with it. And that's what gives this project a significance all its own."