In a study by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) into possible sites for a new 65,000-seater national sports stadium, the regeneration of the Lansdowne Road stadium came out on top.

In addition to Lansdowne Road, the report assessed the merits of sites at Newlands Cross, Abbotstown and the former Irish Glass Bottle site at Ringsend.Of all of them, the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road was assessed to be the cheapest option, coming in ahead of the construction of a new venue at Abbotstown, said to be that preferred by Irish premier, Bertie Aherne.

Following a meeting with the two bodies, sports minister, John O'Donoghue said the overall cost of the new facility could be in excess of EUR500m, although about EUR118m of this would be contributed by the IRFU and FAI and a further EUR71m could be recouped via VAT payments.O'Donoghue and his department will study the proposals before making a recommendation to the government. Neither he nor the IRFU or FAI would comment on their preferred locations for the new stadium.