Leo Varadkar says: "GAA national training venue on way:"

HIGH HOPES: Leo Varadkar (right)

Just over 100 days in power and the Government are reporting progress on the sporting white elephant that is  the National Sports Campus.
In April, Leo Varadkar spoke of his hopes that the GAA might base their national training facilities at the 495-acre site in Abbotstown and yesterday the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport gave an encouraging update.
"We are also in consultation with the GAA, IRFU and FAI about having their training facilities on a partnership basis and that they would contribute a good chunk of the costs, and we would make some of the costs available too.  The discussions have been very detailed with the GAA because the GAA is in a very strong position financially but we have had not too many discussions with the IRFU as of yet because they are paying off the debt [on the AVIVA Stadium]," said the Minister, speaking to journalists at the same €410million venue.

NATIONAL AQUATIC CENTRE,  Abbotstown, Dublin

Beyond contributing to any new training facility, the Minister warned that the extent of state funding at Abbotstown will be the upkeep of the National Aquatic Centre and the Sports HQ, which will see the non-governmental sporting bodies move from Parkwest to Abbotstown.