The report claimed that Ireland’s potential to attract athletes for pre-Olympic training camps was low, as a result of the "relatively small number of locations/facilities’’ of international standard in the country.

The report was prepared by a task force appointed by the Irish Government to examine howIreland could benefit from the Olympics and echoes the findings of a similar survey carried out by the same group last May.

The latest report stated that just eight Irish locations had the potential to attract international athletes, but warned that many of those would have to invest heavily in infrastructure to do so.

The eight locations include University College Dublin, Dublin City University, University of Limerick, University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology.

The National Basketball Arena in Tallaght in Dublin, the National Rowing Centre in Cork and the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin are also listed.

The proposed National Sports Campus in Dublin could also be used if built in time, the report stated.

Irish Sports Minister Martin Cullen (pictured) had claimed last August that Australia's swimming team would base themselves in Dublin before London but they have now signed a deal to go to Mancester instead.

However, while pre-Olympic training could yield up to €43.2million (£37.6 million) in income, the actual "net benefit" after upgrading the facilities would be just €5.4million (£4.7 million).

The report recommended that the potential gains would not justify building any new infrastructure, "unless there were substantial sporting legacy benefits".

Instead, it recommended concentrating on the potential tourism and business benefits.

It said there could be "additional demand for Irish exports" as a result of major spending in Britain, particularly in construction, technology, transport and traffic management, and security planning.

The report said: "Irish business will benefit from the expenditures related to the preparations for staging the London 2012 Games through additional exports to the tune of between €100.5million (£87.5 million) and €139.3million (£121.3 million)."

Businesses in the north could also benefit by between €59 million (£51.4 million) and €85.1 million (£74.1 million) as a result of exporting opportunities.

The estimates are based on existing trade ratios between Ireland and Britain, and were prepared for the Government’s task force by Indecon Economic Consultants.

Indecon also estimated that the Irish economy "could realise some €58 million (£50.4 million) in gross additional tourism receipts, taking into account pre Games sports training and event-related tourism activity, additional visitors to Ireland during the period when the games are being staged and post-games legacy benefits through repeat tourism".

The task force recommended that "additional modest and targeted funding" be given to tourism bodies and the Arts Council for cultural events in Ireland leading up to the Games.