New Louth GAA stadium to open in a year as ‘transformative’ development hailed

The new Louth GAA stadium in Dundalk will open in a year’s time, an Oireachtas meeting has heard.

Louth Fine Gael TD Paula Butterly spoke on the subject during a meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Deputy Butterly said: “Speaking as a Louth woman, one of the biggest problems is that we are the only county without a county stadium. That is a huge problem.

“We are addressing it on all fronts - local, local authority and national. We are trying to do everything to get that stadium up and running.”

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In response, Chairperson of the GAA’s National Demographic Committee, Benny Hurl, issued an update on the stadium’s progress.

Mr Hurl said: “On the stadium, I was pleased it was announced at the Leinster convention on Saturday night that Louth was only 12 months away from opening up the new development.

“That will be transformative for Louth. I congratulate Louth - I think it is 67 or 68 years since it last won the Leinster Football Championship.”

“For a very small population, it is doing extremely well,” he added.

Deputy Butterly also asked whether any “deficiencies in club activity” had been observed in Louth, amid a GAA report detailing the effects of rural depopulation.

In response, Mr Hurl stated: “At the end of the convention on Saturday, I spoke to the Louth demographics officer, Mr. Declan Byrne, who invited Dr. Horgan, the national committee and me to attend a meeting in the next couple of months to see exactly what we could do.

“I have accepted that invitation. We are happy to do that and for every other county as well.

“If one looks at the facilities in the book, Louth compares favourably. I know Louth has particular challenges. It is probably no different to any other county.

“Every county, whether the biggest or smallest, has been impacted by demographics. Rest assured, we will be doing everything we can to help the Deputy's county.”

The comments came at a meeting titled ‘Changing Demographics, Rural Depopulation and Housing Strategy’, which was was attended by a number of GAA officials.

They were asked to address the meeting following the publication of the association’s National Demographics Committee Report.