Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

The sports capital programme announcement will be made tomorrow. This budget line is the responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, and I am sure there will be information on it tomorrow.

The amount of Exchequer funding for the national sports campus is small. Given the state the country is in, we cannot put millions of euro into the project. We are, therefore, pursuing philanthropy and the sale of lands. In some cases, we are receiving co-operation from national governing bodies, some of which have their own resources. For example, many of the smaller sports organisations rent offices in Park West and will move to the new accommodation in Abbotstown to save money. We are also in discussions with Dublin GAA, the FAI and the IRFU on how we could, in partnership, develop training grounds on the campus. It is my intention to proceed with the project. There will not be stadiums and so on, while the commitment on the part of the taxpayer will be small.

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