As many of you are aware, in May, following a review of the costs associated with the proposed redevelopment of the Hyde Park clubhouses, Cuala felt they could not proceed with the project as it risked placing their club in debt. This was a decision endorsed by the Dalkey United Committee. However, the landlord in Hyde Park for both clubs, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, have since decided that the proposal is too good to allow it to lapse and have allocated €2m to it from the Council’s Capital Fund. This decision by the Council completely alters the risk-profile of the project from the clubs’ perspective and as a result, both clubs have agreed to back the project once more. 

 

The next step is to apply for funding from the Government’s Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund, with DLR Co Co as the lead applicant. The LSSIF has up to €120m to allocate to eligible sports infrastructure projects, to a maximum of 70% of each project’s construction costs. The closing date for applications was Monday, July 1st, and our application was lodged in time. 

 

A successful application to the LSSIF still does not guarantee that the project will proceed. The clubs have attached a number of conditions to their ongoing support, including a stipulation that construction work cannot start without having a fully-funded, fixed-price contract in place, and that we continue to have access to our pitch and storage facilities in Hyde Park during the construction phase, or that equivalent facilities are provided to us. 

 

In my last message on this topic, when we believed the project had been shelved, I mentioned that the Committee would be looking at works to the Clubhouse to make it more usable for players and members. However, this project, if completed, will result in a major enhancement to our Hyde Park facilities and, given that it has the backing of DLR Co Co and Cuala, we believe it is in the best interests of Dalkey Utd to support the LSSIF application.    

 

The Dept. of Sport will be in touch with all LSSIF applicants “in due course”, hopefully before the end of this year, when we will update you again.

Thank you.