The Irish Government has confirmed there is no money at present for the long-promised national velodrome. Above, the velodrome in Los Angeles is a shared cycling and badminton facility, just like the project mooted for Dublin.
Plans for Ireland’s first purpose-built international standard velodrome have been dealt a major blow with the Government failing to make any funding available in the Budget for the project.
In July the first possible signs of trouble for the track emerged when Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Paschal Donohoe indicated in reply to the Dáil question that no decision on funding for the project had been made.
He said at the time that if the funding needed for the track was allocated, it would be provided for in the Budget.
However, on Tuesday the Budget for every area of current and capital expenditure was announced for 2016, with no mention of the velodrome.
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The Department of Sport said that almost €25 million was being provided for the development of the National Sports Campus, including completion of the National Indoor Arena.
It was on the sports campus in Abbotstown, west Dublin, that space had been earmarked for the velodrome, in a joint facility shared by Cycling Ireland and Badminton Ireland.
However, it has emerged that none of the €25 million is for the velodrome and that the National Indoor Arena is the project that will be advanced with the money.
The Department of Sport also confirmed no funding has been allocated in 2016 for the velodrome and that the project would need to be considered again.
However, it added the project remained one of Mr Donohoe’s priorities.
“The capital funding allocated for the National Sports Campus for 2016 will allow for the completion of the National Indoor Arena, which is scheduled for November 2016,” it said.
“No funding has been allocated for the development of a velodrome in 2016.
"However, a velodrome is one of the Minister’s priorities for future developments at the National Sports Campus.”
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It means despite the momentum around the track in recent years and Cycling Ireland’s stated hopes that the project would be under construction by now, it will have to wait.
The earliest it will be considered again is in next year’s Budget, for 2017, which will be set out in exactly 12 months time.
In July of last year a contract was signed between the National Sports Campus Development Authority and Tobin Consulting Engineers to bring a velodrome to the planning stage.
The velodrome would have 16 badminton courts in the centre of the 250 metre banked indoor track.
“It was coming for a while,” explained Cycling Ireland president Denis Toomey when the contract to bring the project to the planning stage was signed last year.
Toomey suggested at the time it could be the end of this year when the planning project was completed, with Cycling Ireland at the mercy of the government for the bulk of the funding needed to complete the track and new headquarters for the federation.
“We’ll be able to bring a lot more riders into the (national track) programme with a velodrome and at the moment we’re looking at the end of October (2014) by the time the planning is done,” he said.
“It’s all down to when the money will be released for construction,” he said.
While the details of where the cash would come from had not been fully agreed last year, Toomey said at the time the State would be the main funder but that both Cycling Ireland and Badminton Ireland would be required to make a contribution.
However, without the allocation of any State funding in the Budget - the only time of year such projects are provided for - the track plans cannot progress for at least another 12 months.
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