New sports facility to be shared by clubs

TWO neighbouring Fingal sports clubs were celebrating last week after a new facility was opened in their community. 

Swords Boxing Club and Fingallians GAA Club will share Sluagh Hall, which was once a purpose built military facility. 

Eamon de Valera opened Sluagh Hall for the first time in 1938. It served a military use as the home of the Local Defence Force and FCA for 75 years until its closure in 2013 due to the re-organisation of the Reserve Defence Forces nationally.

At that time, Fingal County Council identified the opportunity to redevelop the hall for use by the people of Swords and acquired it from the Department of Defence in January 2014.

The council engaged with Fingallians GAA Club and Swords Boxing Club and came up with a plan to convert the facility into a home for two of Swords’ prominent sports namely Gaelic games and boxing. 

It was decided to divide the hall into two separate parts to maximise its potential as a facility that could be used by both clubs to develop their respective sports.

Fingal County Council chief executive Paul Reid thanked the two clubs for their support of the Sluagh Hall project and the level of co-operation they showed during the many stages involved in delivering the project.  

“Your efforts in encouraging participation in sport, particularly among our younger citizens are very much to your credit and are something the council supports fully,” Mr Reid said at the opening ceremony. 

“This refurbished hall stands as a great example of the council’s work in breathing new life back into properties that come into the council’s ownership for use by the local community.”

Mayor of Fingal Darragh Butler said: “There has long been a strong tradition of voluntary military service in the area of Fingal, not least of which was the participation of men from the area in the 1916 Rising, both in the city and rural areas across the county.  

“Throughout the years Sluagh Hall was recognised for volunteering. It is then most fitting that this spirit of volunteering will continue through the endeavours of Fingallians GAA Club and Swords Boxing Club.  I wish Fingallians and the Swords Boxing Club many happy years in their new homes in Sluagh Hall.”