John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport if the Comptroller and Auditor General has audited the accounts of the National Sports Campus Development Authority; the outstanding liabilities the authority has on foot of recent Supreme Court proceedings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36796/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I have been informed by the National Sports Campus Development Authority that the annual accounts of the Authority are currently being audited by the C&AG. Upon completion of the audit and sign off on the accounts by the C&AG, I expect to receive a copy of the financial statements for 2009 from the Authority, which will be placed in the Library of the Houses of the Oireachtas. In relation to outstanding liabilities for the Authority arising from recent Supreme Court proceedings, the Court made an award of costs in respect of the High Court and Supreme Court proceedings in favour of the defendant/appellant – Dublin WaterWorld Ltd. The level of such costs is yet to be determined and may in time be decided upon by the Taxing Master.

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 37: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the role of the National Sports Campus Development Authority; the authority's progress in identifying and prioritising the next phase of the development of a stadium (details supplied); what the next phase of the development will be; if the full €30 million set aside in the National Development Plan 2007 to 2013 will be made available to the authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36824/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The National Sports Campus Development Authority was established on 1 January 2007 under the National Sports Campus Development Authority Act, 2006. The principal functions of the Authority as specified in the Act are:

· To develop a sports campus at Abbotstown, Co Dublin.

· To furnish and equip the sports campus.

· To manage, operate and maintain the sports campus.

· To encourage and promote the use of the sports campus by professional and amateur sports people and members of the public.

The Government is advancing the development of new national sports facilities at Abbotstown as resources permit. The availability of funding for this project is therefore being considered in the context of the budgetary process for 2011 and beyond.

In parallel to the core National Sports Campus project, the National Sports Campus Development Authority is also continuing its strategy of redeveloping and refurbishing the existing buildings on the Abbotstown site for use by the wider sporting community, in particular the National Governing Bodies of Sport. It is intended that those buildings which can be cost effectively refurbished for new uses and which do not constrain the Master Plan for the Campus facilities will be retained.

The first such building was the former State Laboratory, which was refurbished as a new headquarters for the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). Work was completed in November 2007 within budget and the FAI took occupancy shortly afterwards. The second strand of this strategy was the refurbishment of the former Central Meat Control Laboratory as a new headquarters for the Irish Institute of Sport. Construction work on the project commenced in December 2008 and was completed at the end of August 2009. The Institute has since taken up occupation of their new headquarters. The Authority itself also relocated its offices to the refurbished Institute building.

The next strand of this strategy, the renovation of the former Marine Institute building to provide on-Campus office accommodation for other sporting bodies, is currently underway. The Authority, together with the Irish Sports Council and the Office of Public Works, are continuing work on finalisation of the detailed plans for this new facility.

The Authority – through its wholly owned subsidiary, NSCDA (Operations) Limited – is also responsible for the day-to-day management and operation of the National Aquatic Centre. Based on Fáilte Ireland statistics for 2008, the Centre was the fourth most popular paying visitor attraction in the State with some 707,000 visits. During 2009, the number of visitors to the Centre increased to 723,000. In 2009, Swim Ireland established a new High Performance Centre at the National Aquatic Centre. This has seen Swim Ireland base their High Performance Coach at the Centre and reconfirms the Centre as the country's foremost aquatics facility. Throughout 2009, some 31 new national swimming records were set at the Centre. In addition, the Centre has achieved numerous leisure industry awards. Over the course of the past two years, the Authority have been actively promoting the Centre as an ideal training base for international teams in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games. I am delighted to report that on foot of this activity the USA Synchronized Swimming team has chosen the National Aquatic Centre as its training base for the 2012 Olympics.

Since May of this year, the Authority (again through its subsidiary) has taken over responsibility for the day-to-day operation of Morton Stadium, Santry – our national athletics stadium. As with the National Aquatic Centre, the Authority are continuing to promote Morton Stadium as an ideal pre-Olympic training base – particularly given the recent installation of a Mondo running track, identical to that which will be installed in the London Olympic stadium.