The planned new indoor velodrome in Limerick has been given a huge boost after the project has secured some €7.5 million in funding from the Government. That sum is half the amount the project was expected to cost when plans for it were unveiled earlier this year.
The new velodrome is set to be built as the long-promised indoor velodrome on the National Sports Campus, Abbottstown, west Dublin, also continues to inch forward.
And that means the Republic will go from having no indoor velodrome, which has been an embarrassment to Irish cycling for decades, to having two.
The allocation of €7.5 million for the project was confirmed in the Government's Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund, details of which were unveiled on Monday. It seeks to improve and increase active participation in sport across the country.
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The 8,000 sqm velodrome arena in Limerick will also be be used for other sports – such as gymnastics, badminton, volleyball and tennis – and could be a university venue for exams, lectures and other events.
Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) applied for planning permission to build the new indoor €15.4 million indoor velodrome in Limerick earlier this year.
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It later teamed up with Cycling Ireland to sign a ‘memorandum of understanding’ about working on the project together.
The velodrome in Limerick is part of the proposed new multipurpose sports arena on the site of the Technological University’s Coonagh Campus.
In July TUS applied to Limerick City and County Council for planning permission for an indoor arena that would be constructed from a twin-skin pressurised system.
The structure is similar to the design of the Raymond Poulidor Velodrome in France and also other indoor sports arenas popular in other parts of Europe.
The proposal is for a 200-metre track as well as changing facilities, 476 permanent seated spectator viewing, storage and other facilities.
TUS and Cycling Ireland agreed to pursue the €15.4 million velodrome project as a joint application through the Large-Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund, with half the money now allocated.
