John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

On 25 April I announced that the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company awarded the design and project management contracts for the stadium, moving the development plan for the new Lansdowne Road stadium to a new phase. The contracts were awarded following tender competitions, advertised internationally through the European Journal as well as in Ireland.

The design contract has been awarded to a consortium led by HOK Sports, one of the world's largest sport architectural practices. The winning consortium also includes Irish architects Scott Tallon Walker. The contract for project management services has been awarded to a consortium led by Project Management Ltd., one of Ireland's largest specialist technical consultancy and project management firms.

The Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company has begun the preparatory work leading to a submission for planning application with the intention to lodge a planning application in December of this year, in accordance with the timetable previously announced. The newly appointed design team has begun to develop a final detailed design for the new stadium. It is expected that 'enabling works' will happen during 2006 and the main construction work will commence in 2007 with an estimated building time of 29 months.

I reaffirm the Government's commitment to the project and its decision to provide €191 million towards the cost of the project, which is estimated to cost €292 million.

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