Contractor Laing O'Rourke is in the running for the Irish National Stadium project in Abbotstown, County Dublin.
The Irish government is looking to the private sector to fund the 55,000-seat stadium after dropping plans earlier this year to pay for it out of the public purse.

Other bidders include Irish property companies Dunloe Ewart and Treasury Holdings, and sports management company IMG.

The stadium would go into public ownership after 35 years and will cover an area of up to 40 acres.

The stadium 鈥� nicknamed Bertie's Bowl after taoiseach Bertie Ahern 鈥� is the centrepiece of a joint bid by Ireland and Scotland to host the 2008 European soccer championships, which means that the stadium has to be ready by June 2007.

Last month's invitation to tender notice said the stadium needed "an indoor arena, training, sports science and medical facilities and headquarters accommodation for a wide range of sports".