THE Irish Football Association has formally submitted its planning application for the redevelopment of the National Football Stadium Windsor Park to DOE Planning. If the plans are given the green light, it is hoped that work will begin on the proposed 18,000 seater stadium in September, 2013.

Following a consultation process with all stakeholders across Northern Ireland, which included giving people the opportunity to submit their thoughts on the redevelopment project online, the design team led by Hamilton Architects, Planning Consultants RPS and the Irish FA finalised the planning application before its submission.

Raymond Holbeach from RPS said: "RPS are pleased that the planning application and supporting environmental reports have been submitted on time. The planning application has been submitted following an intensive period of community and statutory body consultation as well as completion of environmental and transport assessments that influenced the development of the design for the Stadium.   The redeveloped Stadium will result in environmental benefits for the local community including reduction in noise and light pollution "

Patrick Nelson, Irish FA Chief Executive, is delighted that the planning application has finally been submitted.  "We had made it a key target to have our planning application submitted by this date and I am delighted that we have achieved this.  The design for our redeveloped National Stadium truly is impressive, and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to give their thoughts and ideas to us during the community consultation process.  I know that the new Windsor Park will be a stadium that we will all be proud of."

The Executive has endorsed up to £110m for regional stadium development. This is the key capital programme for DCAL and is also a priority within the Executive’s Programme for Government. When contributions from the sports are taken into account the overall Programme will invest up to £129m.

Thanks to DCAL support the Irish FA intends to reconstruct Windsor Park so that up to 18,000 spectators can be accommodated. This will cost in the region of £29.2m with £25.2m coming from government funds.

The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and plays its home fixtures at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Its current manager is Giovanni Trapattoni.

The team made its debut at the 1924 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals. Between 1924 and 1936, the team competed as the Irish Free State and from then until 1950, it was referred to by the FAI as Éire or Ireland. In 1953, FIFA decreed that for competitive matches in tournaments that both Irish teams may enter, the FAI team would be officially called the Republic of Ireland while the IFA team was to be named Northern Ireland.

Under the guidance of Jack Charlton and his successor Mick McCarthy, the team enjoyed its most successful era, qualifying for UEFA Euro 1988 in their first appearance at the UEFA European Championship, reaching the quarterfinals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in their first ever appearance at the finals, and making the last 16 at both the 1994 and 2002 FIFA World Cups. Under the guidance of Giovanni Trapattoni, the team narrowly lost out on qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup during a controversial play-off but went on to qualify for UEFA Euro 2012.

Ireland was the first nation from outside the United Kingdom to defeat England on home soil at a fixture played at Goodison Park, Liverpool, in 1949. The team also reached the quarter-finals of the 1964 European Nations' Cup.

Ireland