Coe is visiting Northern Ireland just as a high level briefing paper on whether the controversial project should go ahead, prepared for the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister, was leaked.

 

The document, prepared by officials within Northern Ireland's Finance Department, put the costs of a multi-sports 38,500-capacity stadium at the Maze, which would stage matches in the 2012 Olympic football tournament if it is finished in time, at £379 million.

 

The Texas-based Hillwood Corporation chaired by the billionaire Ross Perot junior is understood to have won the competition to become the preferred bidder for the development on the site of the former Maze prison, where a number of notorious members of the IRA were sent too, after United States President George W. Bush encouraged American companies to invest in Northern Ireland.

 

The document said the "most economically advantageous bid" is from "a major world-class developer" which offers a "conveyor belt" of employment opportunities from Fortune 500 companies".

 

Significantly the document suggests the development "could result in 10,000 jobs".

 

It claimed: "The risk in refusal is of sending the message that Northern Ireland is not open for business."

 

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has claimed that no final decision has been taken on whether to carry on with the project.

 

The Gaelic Athletic Association, Irish Football Association and Ulster Rugby have all confirmed they would play games at the venue, just outside Lisburn in County Antrim.

 

The Mott MacDonald HOK Sport Team, who designed the stadium to be used for the 2012 Oympics and built Arsenal's Emirates ground, had won the international competition to design the multi-sports arena.

 

But the Maze site is opposed by some unionists due to plans to build a conflict transformation centre alongside the stadium and by many Northern Ireland football fans who want any new stadium to be in Belfast.

 

The topic is bound to dominate tonight's meeting, where Coe will appear alongside the 1972 Olympic pentathlon champion Mary Peters, Northern Ireland's most famous sportswoman.

 

He said: "These events are a vital part of our work to bring the Games direct to people lviing outside of London and to explain the opportunities they offer to the whole of the UK.

 

"I am looking forward to updating people in Northern Ireland on the huge progress that is being made as we move towards 2012."