Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe, today (Tuesday), paid an end-of-year visit to the National Sports Campus to view progress on the development of facilities on the site.
During the visit, Minister Donohoe met with Chairman Sean Benton and Chief Executive Dave Conway. The Minister was pleased to note that the National Sports Campus Development Authority has selected a successful tenderer for the construction of the National Indoor Arena; the details of which will be announced early next year.
Minister Donohoe said: ‘I am delighted that the award of a contract for the construction of the National Indoor Arena is imminent. The National Sports Campus Development Authority intends to award the contract to the successful tenderer in the next few weeks. I am very pleased that we were able to secure capital funding for the next two years to allow the Arena to be completed. The development of the National Indoor Arena is very significant in terms of our sporting infrastructure and will provide world-class indoor training facilities in which Irish athletes can train and prepare for international competitions. I look forward to seeing works commencing on-site in 2015.’
Minister Donohoe viewed progress on works underway on the development of the Irish Institute of Sport High Performance Centre and the Campus Pavilion Building. Construction work on these projects is due to be completed in July 2015.
Speaking about the Campus, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring said: ‘Good progress is being made on these two projects, which will be completed in time to benefit Irish athletes in their preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympics. I am sure that these facilities will be a great addition to those already available to our athletes as their preparations for the Games intensify.’
In addition to these two projects, further facilities will also be completed in 2015. Two new Multi-Sport Turf Pitches will be ready for use in Spring 2015, accommodating Gaelic Games, soccer and rugby. The GAA and the FAI are also expected to complete work on their pitches in March 2015.
2015 will also see the commencement of work on a new HQ for Special Olympics Ireland.
Both Ministers expressed their satisfaction at how the National Sports Campus facilities are progressing and expressed their thanks to the Chairman, Board Members and Staff of the Authority for their work in bringing the Campus to this stage.
Ends