John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

As I advised the House previously, in January 2004 the Government agreed to provide funding to the joint IRFU and FAI project for the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road stadium. The facility will be a 50,000 all-seated stadium to be built on the grounds of the existing stadium at Lansdowne Road and will meet all the current international standards for rugby and soccer.

The Lansdowne Road stadium development company has been formed and is the contracting party for the development and management of the new Lansdowne Road stadium. Over the past year and a half, the company has been working to a very challenging timescale and I note with satisfaction that all targets of the project schedule so far have been met. A formal legal agreement has been signed between the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, the IRFU and the FAI with regard to the procurement of the project. A steering group, with representatives of the IRFU, the FAI, the OPW and the Departments of Finance and Arts, Sport and Tourism, under the chair of the Secretary General of the Department is overseeing the delivery of the project.

In April 2005, following a tender competition, the design and project management teams for the stadium were contracted. Following their appointment, work on developing the conceptual design got under way and I was very pleased to launch the new detailed design for the project on Monday, 17 October 2005. The new design has been created in consultation with the different stakeholder groups that will be involved in and impacted on by the stadium. As a result, in order to minimise the impact on residents living in close proximity to the new structure, the design, which is at four levels on the east, west and south sides, sweeps down to a single level at the north end. The revised detailed design is an innovative solution that provides a better stadium facility incorporating significantly more corporate and premium seats.

The detailed design for the project has been costed at €365 million. The House will recall that the Government's commitment was to provide a maximum of €191 million towards the project with the balance being provided jointly by the IRFU and FAI. This commitment has been reiterated and is accepted and understood by both the IRFU and the FAI. Both sporting organisations have indicated they can meet the additional cost from increased income streams from forward selling of the additional seats.

Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company is currently preparing the application for planning permission. It is intended that this stage will be completed within the next month. By the end of 2005, the planning application will be ready for lodgment. Lansdowne Stadium Development Company has adopted a very open and listening approach to the concerns of local residents who are understandably concerned about the changes planned for the existing stadium grounds. In this context, the project is geared to meet the requirements of the planning process. At this stage, it is not realistically possible to establish with certainty the length of time that will be required to complete the process. Working on the assumption that there will be no untold delay, construction work will commence in early 2007. Construction is scheduled to take 29 months and, on this basis, the end of 2009 could see completion of the redeveloped stadium, which will cater for the international fixtures of the IRFU and the FAI.

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