The Irish government has granted approval for the development of a permanent international cricket stadium and a High Performance Centre at the National Sports Campus in Dublin. The overall project takes the long-term view of preparing Ireland to host the 2030 T20 World Cup, along with England and Scotland.
Ireland currently has four ODI-rated grounds – Malahide, Clontarf, Stormont and Bready – but all of them are club cricket grounds with temporary seating. The cost of staging matches there, including significant temporary infrastructure, is too high.
In the last couple of years, Ireland staged their home fixtures against South Africa and Bangladesh in England. Later this year, they will host South Africa in Abu Dhabi. This new stadium will solve that problem.
The whole project will be completed in a phased manner. This first phase includes the delivery of a main cricket oval, with a permanent seating capacity of 4000, a high-performance centre, and facilities such as players’ and officials’ pavilion, and is scheduled to be completed in 2028. The proposed facilities will include both indoor and outdoor practice and training areas.
“Today’s announcement is absolutely fantastic,” Warren Deutrom, the CEO of Cricket Ireland, said. “It is a huge tribute to everybody involved at all levels in Irish cricket who have got us to the stage whereby the government genuinely regards us as a sport of national significance worthy of major investment.
“For me, it is probably up there in terms of significance with the day that we became a Full Member of the ICC. These facilities will help drive the sport forward – they will significantly assist our highest-performing players nationally and provincially to prepare, train and perform better on the world stage.
“It’s also going to increase the number of pitches that we can use, helping us ensure that we host more cricket in Ireland. Whether men’s, women’s, seniors, juniors, nationally or provincially, this new facility will help keep our product, our sport, on our shores.”