The man currently at the helm of Cycling Ireland, Chris Kitchen, says the new indoor velodrome in Dublin can "bring Irish cycling to the next level". News that planning permission had been granted for the shared cycling and badminton centre in west Dublin was first broken by stickybottle last month.
However, today officials from Cycling Ireland, Sport Ireland and the Government issued coordinated releases to mark the fact they had received "formal notification" of the planning permission. It clears the way for the velodrome to be built on the Sport Ireland Campus in Abbottstown, west Dublin.
The National Velodrome and Badminton Centre will feature a 250-metre cycle track, with 12 badminton courts within the infield. Other spaces, including the entrance and café, changing rooms, offices, training facilities and bicycle hire and stores, will sit under the track at ground level.
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"The news that planning approval has been formally granted for a national velodrome is a testament to the hard work of many at Sport Ireland, Sport Ireland Campus and Cycling Ireland," said Kitchen, who was appointed to the Cycling Ireland chief executive job on an interim basis after the departure of Matt McKerrow in mid December.
He added: "We're delighted to move one step closer to the development of a state-of-the-art velodrome on the Sport Ireland Campus that can help bring Irish cycling to the next level."
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Una May, the chief executive of Sport Ireland, said "news of the velodrome’s approval is a really exciting start" to the year.
"We are delighted to see our plans for the Sport Ireland Campus progressing and the National Velodrome and Badminton Centre is an important next step. This will be somewhere for the community and for elite athletes to come together, sharing facilities at a new destination for Sport in Ireland.”
Paul Watson, the well-known international commissaire, has been working as a consultant on the project as he has travelled extensively to international track meetings and has reviewed the best velodromes in the world. Watson said he was delighted the velodrome had been granted planning permission.
"It's something that Sport Ireland and Cycling Ireland have been working towards for a long time, and we can't wait to continue our work with them on the project to deliver a world class velodrome for Irish cycling," he said.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin TD welcomed the significant milestone for the velodrome plans, adding "delivering this world class facility is part of a wider masterplan my colleagues and I are working on".
Minister for Sport and Physical Education, Thomas Byrne TD, welcomed the "great news", adding he now looked for to "progressing this project" with Sport Ireland, Badminton Ireland and Cycling Ireland.
