The proposed national stadium and sports campus at Abbotstown, Co Dublin, is likely to be fast-tracked through the planning process by designating the site as a "strategic development zone".
Details of a master plan for the 280-acre site off the M50 near Blanchardstown, including an 80,000-seat stadium, are to be announced today by the Minister for Sport and Recreation, Dr McDaid.
The planned sports campus will also include a 15,000-seat indoor arena, a series of multipurpose sports halls, a golf academy, tennis centre, swimming pool, velodrome, athletes' village, sports science and medical centre and numerous playing fields.
Planning permission for the Olympic-size swimming pool has just been granted by Fingal County Council. If this decision is not appealed to An Bord Pleanala within four weeks, the pool and its associated facilities will be the first element to be built.
The overall development will cost the Exchequer a minimum of £350 million, plus at least £100 million to relocate the existing agricultural laboratories at Abbotstown to a State-owned farm called Backweston, near Celbridge, Co Kildare.
Mr J.P. McManus, the wealthy bookmaker and horseracing figure, has pledged to donate £50 million towards the project, and a further £150 million is expected to be raised from the private sector, mainly for the provision of commercially-viable facilities on the site.
First announced in January of last year, the ambitious scheme is a "pet project" of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. With his support, Sports Campus Ireland Ltd, the State company in charge of planning it, is expected to seek a fast-track route with a view to delivering it by 2005.
Under the Planning Act, 2000, provision was made for the designation of strategic development zones, mainly for the benefit of inward investors. This was intended to ensure a degree of certainty so that major projects would not become bogged down in planning delays.
In the case of Abbotstown, the procedure would involve preparing a planning scheme for the site, together with an environmental impact statement. The scheme would then be adopted following a period of public consultation, precluding any further appeals.
At least seven major international civil engineering firms have indicated an interest in bidding for the sports campus contract.
