No change to Dalymount Park redevelopment, says Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council has released a statement clarifying that that “there has been no change” in the plans to fully redevelop Dalymount Park into a “six-thousand-seater facility with ancillary community facilities.”

The council was responding to a report which surfaced today claiming that the proposal to fully redevelop the stadium was being scrapped due to the upcoming renovation of Tolka Park.

The council says that “the project is at an important juncture where the appointed design team of IDOM/Gilroy MacMahon are close to completion of the preliminary design and an order of magnitude will be provided in the coming weeks.

“Underground investigations are to be conducted on site over the next week,” it said.

“Once this information is available the design team will have a good understanding of the substructures that are required and the Quantity Surveyor will be able to provide accurate costings for the proposed design by the end of June.

“Once this report is complete the City Council will be in a position to complete their due diligence on the costing and a decision will be made whether to proceed to detailed design and planning with the current design or alternatively a value engineering exercise will be completed which could potentially lead to some redesign.

“All stakeholders have always been aware, and particularly in light of ongoing inflationary pressures, that should costs escalate to an unsustainable level there would need to be alternative options on the historic site.

“These options could potentially involve redesign and would utilise all studies and works already undertaken and stay within the current funding mechanism.”

The demolition of the Connaught St Stand is currently out for the tender, the council says, which follows the demolition of the Des Kelly Stand.

“Dublin City Council is still fully committed to a redeveloped Dalymount Park and will continue to work with all stakeholders including local councillors, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht and Sport, Bohemian FC, the local community in Phibsboro and the FAI to provide a municipal stadium at Dalymount Park.

“In respect of Tolka Park, negotiations are ongoing with Shelbourne FC acquiring the site from Dublin City Council on a cost recovery basis.”