Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 57 together.

The Government has provided €149 million in the National Development Plan 2007-2013 for the development of a national sports campus at Abbotstown. The Government, in November 2005, already approved the development of facilities under phase one of a development control plan prepared by Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited, the predecessor of the National Sports Campus Development Authority, NSCDA. These facilities will be designed to meet the indoor and outdoor training needs of Irish elite sportspersons who compete at national and international levels and will also provide for the needs of the local community.

The facilities to be provided in phase one of the project will include a national field sports training centre catering for rugby, soccer, Gaelic games and hockey; a national indoor training centre which will provide world-class training facilities for more than 20 national governing bodies of sport; accommodation for sports men and women; sports science-medical facilities; and all-weather synthetic pitches for community use.

The Government decision for this stage of development included agreement to relocate the headquarters of the Football Association of Ireland to the former State Laboratory building at Abbotstown. Planning permission for a change of use for the State Laboratory was secured and the refurbishment work on the building is almost complete. It is expected the FAI will relocate to Abbotstown perhaps later this month.

It is also intended to provide a headquarters for the Institute for Sport by refurbishing an existing building on the site and a planning application for a change of use for this building has been lodged with Fingal County Council.

The Deputy will be aware the Government also decided to provide a site on the lands for the development of a hospice. In this context, St. Francis Hospice is involved in the planning stages of this facility.

A planning study for the Abbotstown site, which is a requirement under a local objective of the Fingal county development plan, has been completed by an inter-agency group, which included my Department, the Office of Public Works, the Department of Finance and Fingal County Council. This study sets out the mix of sporting, leisure, and amenity facilities that would be appropriate for the site. The planning study, including a proposal to change the zoning of a large portion of the site to open space to allow for sports use and for the woodland area of the site to be zoned high amenity, has been considered by Fingal County Council. Following a period of consultation, the planning study was approved at a meeting of Fingal County Council on 9 July last.

In formal terms, the resulting variation to the Fingal county development plan specifies or maps five local objectives as follows: to provide sporting facilities and associated infrastructure related to the national sports campus incorporating appropriate office, administration and accommodation space; to provide sport and recreational facilities for community use, including minority sport and leisure activities, with local clubs, voluntary organisations and Fingal County Council having an input into the future allocation of space or facilities and with facilities being affordable and accessible to the local population; to provide for a hospice; to provide public access to this open parkland and provide the necessary footpath network, landscaping and related development; and that development of the Abbotstown sports campus and site be accompanied by frequent public transport links as a priority to allow access for the mostly young users of the sports and recreational facilities.

Preliminary planning for phase one has commenced and the NSCDA is shortly to appoint a design team and a project management team for the project. It is then the intention of the authority to have detailed plans prepared so that planning permission can be sought for the implementation of phase one of the project. It is expected that planning permission will be sought during 2008.

In January last, under the National Sports Campus Development Authority Act 2006, the NSCDA was established on a statutory basis to succeed in function and responsibility Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Company Limited, CSID. In addition to overseeing the development of phase one of the campus, the new authority has been requested to identify the facilities that might be considered for the next phase of the development of the Abbotstown project. The Abbotstown facilities, when completed, will provide a much needed range of training and competitive facilities for our sportspersons.

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