Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern insists he has not given up hope of persuading the Gaelic Athletic Association to allow Croke Park to be used as a Euro 2008 venue.

The Scotland-Ireland bid is based around six stadia north of the border and two in and around Dublin.

Question marks have been raised over the ability of the Irish to deliver their end of the bargain after public money was denied for a new stadium, dubbed 'Bertie's Bowl', in Dublin.

But Ahern insists he is fully committed to the bid and will deliver the stadia required if the Celtic bid is successful.

Ahern said: "I have no doubt that in its time Croke Park will come right.

I have every confidence we will deliver Scottish-Irish bid director John Henderson

"Croke Park is almost finished and does not have any equals as far as we're concerned.

"We also have 23 bids in from the private sector for a site out in the west of Dublin.

"Scotland and Ireland are two great footballing countries with enormous interest and support in the game which is shown week-in, week-out.

"People who would come to support their team from outside of Scotland and Ireland would have a good time".

Bid marketing director John Henderson believes the bid has a significant advantage over fellow front runners Austria and Switzerland.

Henderson said: "I have every confidence we will deliver and Uefa know we will deliver too - and that is a very strong position to be in.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern

"Switzerland has very small stadiums and you could fit two Swiss stadiums into Murrayfield.

Meanwhile, Uefa president Lennart Johansson has acknowledged that Ireland's difficulties over suitable stadia could affect the bid.

Johansson appeared to rule out the chances of Russia or the joint bid from Greece and Turkey.

He referred to the Moscow theatre siege and the crowd trouble that blighted the recent Uefa Cup tie between Greek club Panathinaikos and Turkish rivals Fenerbahche.

"There was also this terrible hostage drama in Moscow," said the Uefa president.

"That will also be taken into consideration for the final decision, as well as what has happened in Ireland. We have to bear all that in mind".

Seven bids

Johansson seemed positive about the joint bid from Austria and Switzerland.

"It is a candidature that makes sense," he said.

However, the Uefa President denied that the Austrian-Swiss bid was, along with a joint bid from the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, the favourite.

"If you say that, you know more than I do," he said.

Seven bids are being considered by Uefa, whose executive committee will make their decision on 12 December.