New €43 million swimming pool approved to replace leisure centre cleared for MetroLink

A €43 million swimming complex will replace Dublin’s Markievicz leisure centre after the site was cleared for the MetroLink rail project. The new facility at Irishtown Stadium in Ringsend will be more than 2.5 kilometres away from the current centre on Townsend Street.

City councillors approved plans on Monday night for a 25-metre, six-lane pool. The centre will also include a second training pool, sauna and steam rooms. The existing Irishtown Sports and Fitness Centre, which the council owns outright, will be demolished to make way for the new complex.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland will pay for the project. Construction is expected to start in the third quarter of next year and finish in the third quarter of 2029, project manager Don Daly told councillors. The planning report said the new centre should be fully operational before the Markievicz facility closes, allowing users to continue accessing leisure services.

The timeline suggests that construction of the Tara Street MetroLink station will not move forward before late 2029. TII has already agreed to buy 40 apartments in the College Gate complex above the Markievicz pool in a reported €22 million deal. The full 70-apartment block is scheduled for demolition for the station, with further purchases expected.

The pool is the latest in a series of property transactions linked to MetroLink. TII agreed last December to buy houses beside the planned Charlemont terminus for more than €30 million. In July, UK property group Hammerson sold more than one hectare on O’Connell Street to TII as part of an €80.7 million disposal of assets it described as non-core. TII did not disclose the purchase price for the land, where a MetroLink station is planned beneath the former Carlton cinema.

TII expects to have spent almost €750 million on MetroLink by the end of this year, before construction begins on the line between Swords in north County Dublin and Charlemont in the south. The government is due to decide this month whether TII can seek construction bids based on updated cost estimates, which are expected to range from about €14 billion to €17.5 billion. The earlier published midpoint was €9.5 billion.

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Importantly, the new leisure centre is planned to be fully operational in advance of the closure of the current Markievicz Centre, ensuring continuity of service for users.