Fitzgerald Stadium will get €6m, while Derreen Community Complex and Killarney Rugby Club also benefit
The Derreen Community Complex in Killarney has been allocated an additional €1 million in funding for a multi-purpose sports hall, which will include basketball courts, a judo room, a gym and a multi-purpose meeting room.
Killarney Rugby Club has received €750,000 under the fund to further develop the clubhouse at Aghadoe, with new changing rooms, shower units, a gym, a referee changing room, a first aid room, an equipment room and an accessible toilet part of the upgrade plans.
Fitzgerald Stadium’s €6 million funding is earmarked to re-develop the existing terrace at the western end of the stadium, but the monies allocated falls well short of what Kerry GAA might have hoped to receive from the LSSIF.
Kerry GAA have ambitious plans for a full redevelopment of Fitzgerald Stadium, with chairperson Patrick O’Sullivan telling club delegates at county convention in December 2022 that “projected costing for the upgrading of the stadium is in the region of €72.5 million.”
Revisiting the issue at last year’s annual convention, Mr O’Sullivan said: “€35m is the cost to refurbish the Stadium and a new build comes in at €78m. The County Board cannot take on a debt and project of this size without government funding for the project.”
Kerry GAA has also launched a High Court challenge over the Justice Minister’s refusal to include its application for inclusion in the now-defunct Immigrant Investor Programme.
It claims the refusal to include it in the scheme, where non-European Economic Area (EEA) citizens who invested in certain programmes were given visas allowing them to reside in Ireland, will result in the potential loss of at least €27m in donations.
Kerry GAA says the money is already committed towards the redevelopment of Fitzgerald Stadium. It further claims that an additional €11.6m of new donations Kerry GAA has identified have also been placed in jeopardy by the minister’s decision.
Kerry GAA claim it had been working on securing finance through the IIP since early 2022, but the scheme was wound up in February 2023. Kerry GAA say it had submitted its plans for the redevelopment of Fitzgerald Stadium before the IIP scheme was wound up and they have now launched a High Court challenge to overturn the Minister for Justice’s decision not to include Kerry GAA’s application.
Monday’s announcement of LSSIF funding was made by Sports Ministers Catherine Martin and Thomas Byrne at Dalymount Park in Dublin, home of Bohemians FC. The LSSIF, which is under the remit of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, has allocated funding of more than €173 million to 35 infrastructure projects across a range of sports, designed to improve facilities and thereby increase the participation numbers in sport.
This is a record allocation under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund following on from the record funding already announced under the Community Sport Facilities Fund.
Minister for Education Norma Foley has welcomed the funding for the three Kerry projects.