Louth chief says new stadium 'purely a GAA venue' and denies contact from Dundalk FC

Louth GAA grounds committee chairman Aidan Berrill has said the county’s stadium development is “purely a GAA venue” amid calls from Dundalk FC CEO Mark Devlin for other sports to gain usage of the proposed 14,000-capacity venue.

Devlin used his column in the programme for last Monday’s game against Shamrock Rovers  to make the feelings on the issue known, saying: “As someone who doesn’t have the historic baggage of any disputes between sports, I would hope that any new stadium in the town would be for the benefit of all our community and all sports played in the county.

“There may be reasons why it wouldn’t work but I believe that we owe it to the public to explore all possibilities. It is definitely something I will be looking to discuss and understand what may be achievable.”

However, speaking to The Democrat after revealing details of a fundraiser in aid of the stadium venture, Berrill stressed the project was “for the benefit of Louth GAA Gaels” and that no other sporting body had been in contact over a potential ground share.

“This is purely a GAA venue. It will be built by the works and contributions of the GAA - Croke Park and Louth GAA ourselves,” he said.

“We’ve done our homework with Louth County Council. It’s not just something that’s happened in the last few months, it has been ongoing for quite some time.”

“We tried to develop the Gaelic Grounds and we tried to develop the DkIT grounds about seven or eight years ago. Unfortunately, they fell apart, but this is a serious proposition now. We’re going ahead with this and it’s for the benefit of Louth GAA Gaels.

“The Dundalk chairman, I believe, was on LMFM and said he’d been in touch with Louth GAA, and that nobody had come back to him. That’s news to any of us. There has been nobody in touch with us in relation to whatever.”