GAA DIRECTOR-GENERAL Paraic Duffy insists the new €9m facility at the National Sports Campus in Blanchardstown is not just for Dublin’s benefit.
The sod was turned at the facility for the first time yesterday with construction to commence shortly on a project that is expected to be completed by September 2015.
Five pitches will be constructed but Duffy is keen to stress that the new centre will not just be used by Dublin despite it’s location in the capital.
“It’s a national centre. We want this to be used to the absolute maximum. With the huge population and demand in the greater Dublin area, we would see Dublin using it extensively.
“But it’s not only for Dublin. Dundalk is an hour from here and Gorey is from the south. Most of the population of the country is within an hour from here. We want Dublin to use it as well but we want these pitches to be used. We don’t want them to be lying here and nobody on them so Dublin will definitely be a part of this.
“At this stage, the cost is about €4.5 million of which we get half a million from the Government. That’s the pitches. The pavilion will then be seperate.”
Duffy believes plans to develop a Dublin GAA training centre in Rathcoole will now be shelved.
“I don’t think Rathcoole will go ahead. It doesn’t make sense to have Rathcoole and then this place developed. So the money that was earmarked for Rathcoole will go into this development, money that we put aside for Rathcoole.”
The new facility will be particularly earmarked for schools and colleges fixtures. The main pitch will be developed to the same specifications as Croke Park which will allow it to be used for inter-county training weekends.
“There’d obviously be a huge use for schools and colleges. There’s a huge problem in terms of availability of pitches, that’s an obvious one. All the third level competitions, Sigerson, Fitzgibbon, Trench, all of those competitions.
“Because there’s a small stand there, there’s even games that go to Parnell Park at the moment that could go there. We always get this request from teams to prepare in Croke Park but we can’t let them in. That’s one of the reasons why we developed a pitch the size of Croke Park. This pitch (No1) has the exact dimensions of Croke Park and a similar surface.”
