Restricting capacity at the new Dalymount Park to 6,000 seats smacks of 'a lack of ambition', Stephen Kenny has said.
The former Dundalk boss and current Ireland Under-21 manager wants more government funding to bring stadia up to scratch.
Tallaght Stadium is an 8,000 sellout for Kenny’s next match when Ireland host Italy in a key Euro qualifier on October 10.
But he said: “Maybe we could have sold the ground out twice because everyone is looking for tickets now.
“After the Aviva Stadium, there’s no other stadiums in the country, apart from GAA grounds, that we have access to.
“The whole idea having 6,000 seats at the redeveloped Dalymount Park shows the short-term thinking and lack of ambition.
“Grounds are needed. We’re scraping around for a small bit of money for Finn Harps for the last 10 years, to move to Stranorlar.
“And yet in other sports, they have tens of millions of overruns. Not even costs, overruns. Tens of millions. And they are not national scandals.”
Kenny continued: “Football in Ireland has been hugely underfunded for a long time and there's no emphasis on stadium development and that's the big issue.
“We’re not going to improve overall because our stadiums are - compared to other European countries - a very poor standard.
“We must be more ambitious in how we think. To be saying you can have a 6,000 seater stadium and be ecstatic about that? I find it quite deflating.”
