// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
£800,000 spent on scrapped sports dome project
Announced back in 2024, the proposed dome was billed as a first for Northern Ireland
A Northern Ireland university spent £800,000 on a planned indoor sports dome in Londonderry before the project was scrapped.
Plans for Ulster University's (UU) multimillion pound dome, which was to house multiple sports, including rugby, football and Gaelic games, were first announced in 2024.
But in August UU axed the project saying it was no longer financially viable.
The university, which earlier this year announced it needed to make savings of about £25m and would be making up to 450 staff redundant, has revealed it spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on the dome project before it was axed.
UU said, in response to a Freedom of Information request from BBC Radio Foyle's Mark Patterson Show, that approximately £700,000 had been spent "on project-related activities".
Project management and governance arrangements cost the university a further £100,000, UU said.
Sinéad McLaughlin says it is 'regrettable' it too so long to determine the dome was not viable financially
SDLP assembly member Sinéad McLaughlin told BBC Radio Foyle the dome had been announced to "much fanfare" but it had become clear the dome was an "unaffordable project".
"But my problem is that there is legitimate questions about how we reach the position after spending £800,000," she said.