Minister accused of ignoring issue as wait goes on for athletics hub in Limerick town

THE Regional Athletics Hub for Newcastle West, flagged as a “legacy project” by the six local councillors, is at a standstill and will be unable to proceed unless and until €5m from a new government scheme is made available.

The failure to have the hub  ready to go  in time for the local elections has left  local councillors  disappointed.

But, said Fianna Fail’s Cllr Michael Collins at the last meeting of Newcastle West councillors: “The message must go out that we have done all we can to bring this project to the current stage. We are waiting for significant funding.”

It is an issue that people are raising on the canvass, agreed  Cllr Seamus Browne, Sinn Fein. “ I know the issue is central funding but people aren’t aware of that. It is not the fault of the local authority. It is the fact that money hasn’t been received,”he said. That was planned as one of our legacy projects. At this stage of the game, a little bit of pressure should be applied.”

Cllr Michael Collins proposed the councillors write to Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan. “We should write to the Minister asking him to make this project a priority,” he said. “He is very silent on this issue and also very silent on the pool. As a minister he should be doing a lot more to deliver these projects. He is the most senior politician and he is not doing enough.” We are being ignored at local level by our minister.”

Director of service Gordon Daly explained that €227,000 had been granted through Hinterland funding for the Athletics Hub and this was matched by the local authority. The project got €96,000 through the Sports Capital Grant, although the maximum €200,000 had been applied for. The council had applied for over €1m from the first round of the Rural Regeneration scheme last year but had not been successful.

“There is now another call for Rural Regeneration,” he said. “We have to examine the criteria and see if its a match.”

However, he continued, their main focus over the past six months was on making  an application under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). This is a new fund that was introduced under the National Planning Framework: Ireland 2040. Over €5m was applied for and  lot of work was involved in the application before the closing date of April 17.

“We are waiting on the outcome of that,” Mr Daly said. But he added: “The project is ready to go.” The site has been bought and planning permission and a detailed design were in place, he stressed. 

"We acknowledge your efforts on behalf of the Athletics Hub," Cllr Jerome Scanlan said. "Whatever happens, we will be seen as the council that initiated it. And it will happen. It will happen."

It has now also transpired that this new LSSIF fund is the go-to fund if a public swimming pool is to be approved for Newcastle West , an issue which councillors again raised last week.