Musgrave Park's proposed new Centre Of Excellence wins additional €1.2m boost

A view of Musgrave Park.

MUNSTER Rugby has secured an additional €1.2m state grant towards its Centre of Excellence project at Musgrave Park in Cork.

The additional funds are via the Government's Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Grant programme and brings to €2.7m the total grat aid total for the project. 

Cork City Council recently approved an updated planning application for the Centre of Excellence so the tender process will now get underway with an aim for the new facility to be completed by the end of 2024. The Cork COE will be built primarily for Munster's underage sides and the surrounding community with local clubs, schools and community groups set to benefit. It will be located at the Pearse Road end of the stadium in Ballyphehane and will include a synthetic all-weather playing surface, a gymnasium, dressing rooms, treatment rooms, offices, a kitchen and public toilets.

The all-weather playing surface will be 50 by 40 metres and the gymnasium will be 2,400 square feet. The plans also include offices on the second floor, a new single-storey ticketing booth and increased parking for both cars and buses.

A number of other sports clubs and organisations received additional funding for the construction of large scale projects, including the homes of Connacht and Leinster Rugby and three GAA counties. They are part of an additional €37.6m programe of “Top Up” grant allocations to existing projects under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF).

The first allocations were announced in January 2020 with €86.4 million subsequently awarded to 33 different projects. This additional funding will benefit 27 individual projects, bringing the total to €124 million.

The Sportsground redevelopment in Galway will receive an additional €10m in funding (€20m total) while Leinster's RDS is now benefiting from €15m instead of the initial €10m.

Waterford GAA's Walsh Park has seen its original grant of €3.7m almost doubled to €7m while Pairc Tailteann in Navan has received an additional €2.3m bringing to €8.5m the LSSIF grant. And in Kildare, St Conleth's Park in Newbridge will receive an additional €1.1m for now €6m of funding.

Several regional sport campuses and hubs around the country have also received top ups. The biggest is a further €1.1m for Limerick’s athletics facility in Newcastle West.

It has been confirmed that the new round of the large scale funding will open for applications in the first half of 2024.

For the first time it will be a requirement for all successful applicants to publish their Similar Access Policies in respect of men and women having access to the facilities on similar terms in order to be eligible for a top-up allocation drawdown such as this scheme.