The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O’Donoghue today (Wednesday) signed the formal legal agreement between the Government, the IRFU and FAIreland on the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road Stadium in a significant day in Irish sporting history.
The signing of the agreement means that the associated parties can press ahead with plans to redevelop Lansdowne Road into a state of the art 50,000 all-seater stadium with the expected completion date of December 2008.
As part of the agreement, the Government will raise €191 million of the projected €300 million cost. A planning application will be made early next year.
Under the terms of the agreement, a new company, the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company Ltd has been set up under the chairmanship of IRFU Chief Executive Philip Browne.
Willie Ryan will be the Stadium’s Project manager. He has almost 30 years experience both in Ireland and overseas on many major projects and is seen as the top man in his field.
FAIreland Chief Executive Fran Rooney welcomed the news. “It’s a very important occasion as we now have a formal agreement with the government. This is the first time that an agreement with the Government has been formalised,” he said.
Minister O’Donoghue insisted that the project would be built between 2006 and 2008 factoring into the projected time frame any potential objections at the planning permission stage from local residents who the IRFU and FAIreland have been in regular contact with.
Several other potential delays have been highlighted since the project was first announced earlier this year such as the difficultly in demolishing the current West Stand, which is built around the Dart line, asbestos in the roof of the West Stand and the need to purchase some land along the Dodder riverbank.
“Willie Ryan has a plan to ensure there is no affect to the Dart during deconstruction while the asbestos is not a problem. It’s contained in corrugated roofing and will be removed in line with health and safety regulations,” said Rooney while Browne revealed that plans to purchase land along the Dodder from Dublin City Council are at an advanced stage.
The rebuilding of Lansdowne Road would mean that FAIreland would need to find a temporary home for the Euro 2008 qualifiers and Rooney revealed that those games may need to be played outside Ireland with four viable grounds currently being considered.
“There are four grounds we’ve identified and one of them is actively pursuing us,” he said. “We want to play our home games at home but sometimes that can’t be possible.”
Rooney also insisted the possibility of playing games at Croke Park was an issue for the GAA along.
“To use Croke Park, the GAA would have to change their rules and that’s an issue for the GAA. I know of one club who would love us to use Croke Park, but we can’t formally approach the GAA because their rules stipulate that they don’t allow other sports at Croke Park.”