New plans have been unveiled for a winter sports and entertainment arena in Dublin which will house the country’s first professional ice hockey franchise.
The €190 million development on an eight-acre site in Cherrywood in South Dublin plans to host two Olympic-sized ice rinks, a 5,000-seat indoor arena and a training centre for elite athletes.
Chair of the Seamrog Ice Skating Club Raymond Hegarty told Lunchtime Live that this development has been a long time coming.
“You’re going to international competitions and you’re skating against skaters who are practicing eight times per week, once a day and twice on Sunday,” he said.
“For the Irish skaters, if they don’t get onto full ice, the only chance of them getting to skate is at Christmas time in the small local Christmas rinks.
“Then apart from that they’re just practising in their runners in the kitchen – which sounds really strange but that’s the difficulty about resources up until now.”
Limerick Christmas , ice rink in the city center and a colorful fair including a carousel. Image: Ronin / Alamy. 4 December 2022Mr Hegarty also said the planned location of the arena would serve those coming from across the country.
“It’s in a really nice location that you’re talking about; the intersection of the M50 and the M11 and the Luas,” he said.
“So, you’ve got great access to it and not just for people who are in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area.
“People who are coming from Wexford and Waterford can just come up on the M11 and come straight into this without getting to Dublin traffic.”
'Broader than the sports'
Mayor of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Jim O’Leary said it was a “phenomenal announcement”.
“For us, it’s broader than [just the sports],” he said.
“It’s a conference centre, it’s an arena, it’ll allow ice hockey teams from America to come over, basketball teams – there are entertainers who skip Ireland because we don’t have a mid-level arena for them to play in.
“They’ll now have an opportunity to play in Ireland, there could be 50-to-70 different events on site over the year.”
Cllr O’Leary said his understanding is that the planning permission will be put in around September or October.
Main image: The new Dublin winter sports arena in Cherrywood.
