Dick Shakespeare on Dalymount Park but not Tolka: ‘If you build it, they will come’

Dick Shakespeare is a League of Ireland man. A UCD stalwart since the halcyon days under Dr Tony O’Neill, his reasoning for stepping off the FAI board last year had little to do with increasing the number of females governing Irish football.

Shakespeare did advocate for a woman to replace him but the assistant CEO for Dublin City Council believes he can better improve the dire state of soccer facilities in the city by focusing on his day job.

Good news for Dalymount Park, not so much for Tolka Park.

“There doesn’t need to be one stadium for everyone in the audience,” Shakespeare told The Irish Times from his office overlooking the river Liffey.

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“I’ve a busy job here in Dublin City and I didn’t want my involvement in the top level of the game to be perceived as me potentially not willing to invest in other sports. As part of my remit here, the assistant chief is responsible for culture, recreation and economic services, so that includes sport.

“One of the primary reasons I didn’t stand for the board of the FAI again was I want to drive Dalymount forward.”

Shakespeare’s clear view on DCC delivering their part of the Dalymount redevelopment puzzle coincides with the Save Tolka Park campaign complaining about a year-long lack of “meaningful progress” from both City Council and Shelbourne FC, to ensure the Drumcondra stadium’s future is “not undermined behind closed doors.”

Realistically, is the reconstruction of both Dalymount and Tolka Park, two kilometres apart in north Dublin, ever going to happen?

“In my estimation, no,” Shakespeare responded. “The Save Tolka Park campaign, save it for what? And I am not being smart.

“I wasn’t in DCC when the decision was made to acquire Dalymount and Tolka Park in 2016. The City Council always held the freehold for Tolka Park but to buy out all the various leasehold interests wasn’t cheap. Dalymount was even more expensive. I think between the two of them it cost €4-5 million.

“The intention going in, from both clubs, was that it was better to have one good stadium with two clubs housed in it.”

Shels, following the supporter-led campaign, scrapped the original DCC plan to sell Tolka Park to help fund a ground-sharing agreement with Bohemians in the new Dalymount. Bohs are happy to go it alone in partnership with DCC, reviving a bygone terrace era with a four-sided enclosed ground holding 8,000 supporters.

“DDC has its funding in place for Dalymount and it all depends on what comes out of [the Government’s second iteration of the] Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). It is likely to be a €40 million project and I would expect the Government, through that fund, to come up with €20-25 million.”

And the rest can be covered by DCC?

“Yes.”

Shakespeare is fully cognisant of the housing shortage and homelessness epidemic that continues to impact lives in Dublin, never mind the embarrassing state of football facilities in Ireland compared with the lowest tier of competitive European football nations.

“There are a lot of hands out. This is where hard decisions need to be taken. Originally when [the LSSIF] was mooted it was a €50 million pot and the projects that had been talked about were Dalymount, Páirc Tailteann and the RDS. It was largely the three big field sports, to improve three stadiums.

“Things are very expensive now, construction costs,” Shakespeare admitted, “although there are signs that commodity prices have moderated but you don’t really have a price until there is a tender and the market prices it.

“We are on target, specifically with Dalymount, to hit our May deadline this year to have a scheme that is designed and ready to go for Part 8 planning permission, which is the local authority applying to itself, so it is a decision of the elected members. It is a defined 20-week process, non-appealable to An Bord Pleanála, so we will get it to that point.

“We’ll have a nice tidy stadium,” he believes, “I’ve always been of the view that 8,000 stuffed to the rafters turns tickets into currency. You get a better vibe out of it than a 15,000 stadium that is a quarter full.

“If you build it, they will come.”

However, Shakespeare does not see the large-scale fund releasing €20-25 million to ensure Dalymount is finished, as Bohs hope, by February 2026.

“As it is, no. We are probably the only entity to have drawn money down. DCC got €918,000 for the design.

“We listened to Bohemian football club, and stopped listening to Shelbourne football club because they decided they wanted nothing to do with it and they were going to saddle their bags to Tolka Park.”