Crowds of 40,000 can attend this year's All-Ireland finals at Croke Park, Minister for Sport Jack Chambers has confirmed.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin had indicated yesterday that Minister Chambers would soon make an announcement and now it has been revealed that 40,000 will be permitted to attend the All-Ireland hurling and football clashes in the coming weeks.
And 24,000 supporters will also be allowed to attend the four semi finals in Croke Park from next weekend.
The All-Ireland hurling final is set for August 22 while the football showpiece is pinned for August 29.
Around 25,000 can also attend the two World Cup Qualifiers for the Aviva Stadium for games against Azerbaijan and Serbia in September.
Minister Chambers said: This is an important signal of how far we have come as a country. From the start of this process I stated we wanted to be ambitious around getting supporters back in stadia all around the country and the figures for the upcoming games show that is exactly what is happening.
"I am really pleased we have implemented a very careful return of crowds starting with smaller numbers at first and gradually increasing over the summer months.
"The pilot events have been a great success and have shown how live sporting and other events can be held in a safe manner."
