23-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
OFI backs multi-million euro winter sports and entertainment facility for Dublin
The OFI is endorsing a proposed €190m project to develop Ireland's first Olympic standard winter sports and entertainment Arena Holdings is to lead the construction of the facility at Cherrywood in South Dublin that the OFI claims has "the potential to unlock new opportunities for athletes and communities across the country", adding that it represents a major advance in delivering on the goals of the federation's Winter Sports Strategy 2022–2026.
A permanent ice facility was identified as a key objective of the strategy as none currently exist in the Republic of Ireland, as opposed to 62 in the United Kingdom alone. The Cherrywood facility plans to feature two Olympic-sized rinks and a flexible multi-purpose arena that will support public access as well as elite training.
'This project represents a step-change for winter sports in Ireland," said OFI chief executive Peter Sherrard. "It aligns directly with our strategic goals to increase participation, enhance elite performance, and address the long-standing lack of national infrastructure in this area.
"Ireland has immense untapped potential in winter disciplines, and this development offers the facilities, vision and scale to turn that potential into performance.'OFI president Lochlann Walsh added: 'Dublin is the only EU capital without a permanent ice facility, a gap that has held back both grassroots participation and elite progress in winter sports."There's clear, unmet demand across Ireland, evident from the 300,000+ visits to seasonal pop-up rinks over just 10 winter weeks. This new arena changes that.
"It's about opening pathways, expanding access, and creating a lasting legacy that reflects the full ambition of Irish sport, introducing the public to disciplines like figure skating, speed skating, curling, and sliding sports such as luge and bobsleigh.'The OFI is working with the Winter Sport National Federations to explore long-term opportunities for athletes, communities, and sport development programmes around the facility also plans to have event space for concerts and exhibitions and is expected to attract over 1m visitors annually. It is projected to generate €230 million in annual economic activity, contribute over 200,000 hotel bed nights to the region, and create significant employment during both construction and operation phases.
"The Olympic Federation of Ireland looks forward to supporting this landmark project as it moves into its next phase of development," the OFI stressed.
