We the whitewater community of Ireland wish to express our support for the proposal to build a whitewater centre in Dublin's George’s Dock and ask that you, Dublin North Inner-City Councillors, also support this proposal.

Ireland has a strong and varied community of whitewater users and feel that the proposal to build the whitewater centre in Dublin Docklands should be supported by Dublin's North Inner City's councillors.

A whitewater centre in Dublin would see frequent use by Ireland's whitewater community. There are many participants in paddle sport in the Ireland who currently travel to Wales, England, Scotland, France, Slovenia, Norway & other locations many times a year to find a comparable whitewater experience. A whitewater centre in Dublin city would instead see money spent on trips aboard (whitewater centre fees, travel costs, accommodation) spent locally.

Our competitive whitewater users are currently forced to train abroad for many months of the year due to the lack of training facilities that are on offer in Ireland. This course would see these athletes remain in Ireland.

To see the success of whitewater centres one only needs to look at Cardiff Whitewater centre which successful runs a whitewater centre in a city with a population that is much smaller than Dublin.

In a time when people are getting more involved in Ireland's outdoor activity the location of the whitewater centre in Dublin's city centre should be seen a positive. The location is easily accessible to those travelling. The location is also in a location which is visible to the general public which will go a long way to promoting paddle sports in Ireland and encourage active participation in the sport.

We believe that the proposal as it stands is a good proposal and will be used by a wide variety of users and purposes - tourists, kayakers, and rafters, elite athletes, international competitions, safety and rescue training and so on.

We ask that you consider the proposal in depth and the benefits that it could bring to both Dublin's North Inner City and to the paddle sport community in Ireland.