merrion street

Taoiseach Enda Kenny today opened Ireland’s first world-class indoor athletics arena at Athlone Institute of Technology.

In a ceremony attended by legendary Irish athletes Dr Ronnie Delaney, Senator Eamonn Coghlan, John Treacy, and Ireland’s first female Olympian, Maeve Kyle, the Taoiseach described the arena as “good news for not only the people of Athlone, but for the wider area”.

The official opening comes just ahead of the Athletics Ireland National Senior Indoor Championships at the AIT venue this weekend. Four of Ireland’s best athletes will compete in the International Arena on Saturday and Sunday: Fionnuala Britton, Brian Gregan, Rob Heffernan and Derval O’Rourke.

The AIT International Arena has a footprint of 6,818m2 and an overall building floor area of 9,715m2. Some 850 tonnes of structural steel and 50,000 concrete blocks went into the construction of the facility which can house 2,000 spectators.