North coast developer Seymour Sweeney told the Sunday Times that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) was " positive and supportive" of his proposal.

Mr Sweeney said that he met with Mechtild Rossler, European chief of heritage sites at the organisation, and she was "impressed" with his idea.

" She said the centre should be built in a sympathetic way, not over commercialised," Mr Sweeney said.

Hinting at why the centre could be so lucrative, he added: "She warned us to make it big enough for future capacity."

The Belfast Telegraph was unable to contact UNESCO for comment last night.

The Giant's Causeway is the only site in Ireland to have world heritage status and there had been speculation last week that UNESCO could withdraw the prestigious endorsement if it believed the visitor centre would be detrimental to the site.

Mr Sweeney said his plan was not very different from the DETI-backed plan which Enterprise and Investment Minister Nigel Dodds put on hold last week.

"(My plan) was substantially the same, except the development came off the ridgeline [above the Causeway site]," he said.

"I was seeking to return the ridgeline to its natural green state before Moyle council ever built a visitor centre."

Last Friday, Moyle councillors backed a motion supporting plans to keep any new visitor centre in public ownership and refused Mr Sweeney's request for a meeting.

Mr Sweeney said he had been hopeful of striking a deal with the council which would have satisfied both parties.

"The DETI's proposal had given sufficient comfort to both the National Trust and the council in financial terms," he told the Telegraph.

"I don't know what the details of the deal are, but I wrote first to the council to tell them I was happy to talk to them and negotiate a similar deal.

" If they had engaged, I would then have done something similar with the National Trust."