Funding for the new international-standard velodrome in Dublin has finally been included in the €165 billion National Development Plan, which appears to clear the way for the shared cycling-badminton facility to be built.
According to a schedule for the project published in the first quarter of last year, commencement of construction was due to begin last August. That starting date would have followed other stages – such as a tender process and submissions being assessed.
At the start of this year, the Department of Sport then said the project "could move to tender stage in the first part of this year". But now the new timetable - though apparently matched by funding - raises the prospect the velodrome would not be completed and available for any of the next Olympic cycle.
The Government has now said the facility will commence in the 2025-2026 period and has also claimed that timetable is backed by funding.
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Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar - a TD for the Dublin West constituency, which includes the Abbottstown Sports Campus where the velodrome will be located - tabled a Dáil question last week asking for an update on the velodrome project.
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Minister of State at the Department of Sport Thomas Byrne TD replied the project had recently been included in the revised spending allocations for the National Development Plan. These revised estimates covered spending on projects in the 2025-2026 period, he added.
However, Byrne also indicated the project would "commence" within that period, very much leaving open the possibility the facility would not be available at any time in the next Olympic cycle, especially if commencement was late 2026.
And given the delays to date with getting the project to key milestones, whether it will be commenced at all in the 2025-2026 period is uncertain at this point.
"Minister Catherine Martin and I remain committed to delivering this key project and the revised capital spending allocations for 2025 and 2026 under the National Development Plan announced recently by the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform will allow construction work on the National Velodrome and Badminton Centre to commence during this period," Byrne said in his Dáil reply.
Last December, the Department of Sport made it clear funding for the project needed to be allocated in the NDP before it could go ahead. The milestone has now at least come to pass according to the Government's latest update.
