Ground-breaking€16.5mproject
TAOISEACH Enda Kenny visited the Institute of Technology in Tralee on Monday morning to turn the sod on the new €16.5 Kerry Sports Academy, scheduled to open in autumn 2018.
The facility, described by IT Tralee as an international centre of excellence for education, training and research, will serve as the national sports centre for people with disabilities, and is the largest sports capital project ever to have been undertaken in Kerry.
It will also act as the headquarters for the Health and Leisure Department of the IT Tralee, and the project’s partners includes the Kerry GAA and Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann.
“The Kerry Sports Academy is likely to serve as a further jewel in the future of Kerry’s proud sporting community,” Mr Kenny said.
“This is a remarkable achievement and one that everybody associated with IT Tralee should be justifiably proud. The academy will provide a fitting home for the UNESCO Chair to continue its mission to transform the lives of people with disabilities, their families and their communities through fitness and physical education.”
Dr. Oliver Murphy, President of the IT Tralee, welcomed the Taoiseach to the campus and expressed his thanks to government for its support for the project, while Chairman of the Institute of Technology, Tralee Foundation, Dick Spring, described Monday as an exciting day for the institute and for our national and its partners.
The academy, an 8,400 square metre facility, will take 16 months to build. It was funded by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Kerry GAA, Comhaltas Ceóltoirí Éireann and various philanthropic donations.
The construction phase will create 120 jobs, and the academy will include an international-sized indoor sports arena, a high performance gym, laboratory facilities, teaching spaces, and many other facilities besides.