DUBLIN – Following the Irish Government’s announcement yesterday on the approval to develop a new international cricket facility at the National Sports Campus in Dublin, Cricket Ireland reacted with delight.
The announcement by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, and the Minister of State for Sport, Physical Education and the Gaeltacht, Thomas Byrne TD stated that approval had been granted for a National Cricket Stadium and High Performance Centre project to proceed to pre-tender phase. This will see planning and design completed by mid-2025 with the tender phase to follow.
The Centre, which will be located in the National Sports Campus in Blanchardstown, will deliver a permanent home for cricket in Dublin that meets International Cricket Council requirements for hosting major cricket events and competitions. It is anticipated that the proposed facilities would include both indoor and outdoor practice and training areas and an arena for holding major games with associated media and spectator facilities. This would enable Ireland to host major international cricket events at this new state of the art facility. It also will be a key enabler for Cricket Ireland’s objectives to grow the game and channel investment into the grassroots of the sport.
It is intended that the overall project will be delivered on a phased basis, with Phase 1 scheduled to be completed in 2028. This first phase includes the delivery of a main cricket oval, permanent seating for 4,000 spectators, space to accommodate significant temporary seating, a high performance centre and ancillary facilities such as a state-of-the-art players/officials pavilion.
In response, Mr Deutrom said:
“[Yesterday's] announcement is absolutely fantastic - 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 - it is a tribute to the enormous growth that the sport has enjoyed over the last 10 to 15 years at all levels of the game. Not just nationally, but provincially and at club level. 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.
“Our new permanent ground will also ensure that we have a platform suitable of hosting the world’s top teams on an annual basis and also when we co-host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with England and Scotland in 2030.
“Yes, it's going to take time to get there - likely three, maybe even four years, until we begin to use it, but [yesterday’s] announcement fires the starting pistol on the project. It will enable us to sweat our assets more - getting more bums on seats, generating more revenue to invest back into the sport. And, of course, it means we're going to be using much less temporary infrastructure, which means we can put that money instead into people and programmes - and allow us to focus investment into club and regional facilities and infrastructure through our new club fund - to help grow the game.
“Cricket is a sport that indexes massively, not just within Ireland, but also in many large, growing economies overseas. By being at the top table of the world’s second largest sport, we reach parts of the world that some other sports can't reach. Cricket is the number one sport for the 20% of the world’s population that resides in South Asia, let alone in the UK, Australasia, and Southern Africa. Recently, of course, we saw the T20 Men's T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and in the US, while cricket will make a much-heralded return to the Olympics programme in Los Angeles in 2028.
Cricket Ireland Chair, Brian MacNeice noted:
“Cricket is truly now global, and clearly a sport that the Irish Government believes can play a significant role in delivering for Ireland PLC on the world stage. I think [yesterday’s] announcement is very much a symbol of that.
“On behalf of the cricket family in Ireland, we would like to offer our wholehearted thanks to Minister Martin and Minister Byrne, as well as our partners at Sport Ireland, for their generous support for, and belief in, cricket – this support will flow through to benefit the tens of thousands of players, coaches, volunteers, groundskeepers, match officials and administrators across Ireland. This investment will help shape our future as a sport and support our ambitions to be a major sport in Ireland, and a major nation in world cricket.”
