THE OPENING DATE for the new Dalymount Park has been pushed back to 2023, with Bohemians and Shelbourne not moving into the stadium together for at least another four seasons.
Last week plans for a newly renovated 6,000-seater stadium in Phibsborough were unveiled, with the new facillity seeing the Dublin venue upgraded to a Uefa category 3 stadium.
According to plans revealed by Dublin City Council (DCC) last Thursday, the new Dalymount would be a Municipal Stadium that will include a library, flexible community space and meeting rooms, as well as concourse space at ground level which can be utilised for community activities and events on non-matchdays.
Dublin City Council confirmed last week that it will go ahead with the long-awaited development of the home of Bohemians, but yesterday saw news emerge that the move has been pushed back by another year.
The update means Bohemians will remain in Dalymount Park for the next two seasons, before sharing Tolka Park with rivals Shelbourne in 2021 and 2022. The pair will then move into the newly developed Dalymount together the following year.
In November 2015, Bohemians sold Dalymount Park to Dublin City Council and it was announced in October 2016 that the club will ground-share the venue with rivals Shelbourne once the redevelopment is complete.
In the three years since, Wrenbridge Sport Ltd were engaged by Dublin City Council to complete a detailed appraisal of the Dalymount Park redevelopment options.
“The timeline we were given was based on there being no delays,” Bohemians director Daniel Lambert said speaking to the LOI Weekly podcast yesterday. “The club has had discussions with the Council since then and that’s going to be pushed back to allow delays.”
“We are going to be in Dalymount for next season and the year after, out for 2021 and 2022, and then back in for 2023. That allows for a couple of months of lag.
“We made it clear that we weren’t willing to leave Dalymount mid-season or come back in mid-season. It’s not really plausible in terms of sponsors and infrastructure around the stadium. We made it clear we would only leave in a season break. We’ll have two more seasons there.”
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