Croke Park to get involved in county ground project

After a few weeks of frenetic activity, debate on the new Louth county grounds has ceased – at least in print, commentary and among the GAA fraternity. Word, however, is that there’s a lot going on in the background.

The wish among those hoping that a long-held dream of a new home for Louth GAA becomes a reality, is that whatever's being discussed behind closed doors yields a positive result.

The story, for which the first sentence was written four years ago with the purchase of a site on Dundalk’s Inner-Relief Road, followed by the turning of the first sod by the then-GAA President, John Horan, has been a troubled one in recent months.

It has mostly all centred on finance for the project. First estimated at €12 million, the cost rose dramatically to €19 million and then to €29 million, before being clawed back to €25 million. Covid, the war in Ukraine, and the rise in the coast of materials, were blamed for the increase.

Louth County Board claimed it would be able to raise €18 million, the majority of it coming from the since-closed government-approved IIP Scheme, said to amount to €14.8 million. That left the Board needing Croke Park to grant-aid the project to the tune of €7 million.

This, seemingly, was never a runner as far as Croke Park was concerned.

There was huge scepticism over Louth’s financial plans to raise the €18 million, and this was conveyed at the many meetings County Board representatives had with headquarters in recent months.

More than that, a number of letters were sent to the Board warning against continuing with the project. These were eventually heeded – just the day before the Board had planned a launch of the project, on Monday, July 17th.

A meeting of the Board’s management committee had taken place on the Sunday night. It was said to have been fractious – and although there was an argument in favour of going ahead, a vote resulted in Croke Park’s warning being taken on board.

A further meeting took place in Croke Park on the Tuesday night, and it’s believed that the Louth delegation was told that the game’s authority would be getting involved in the project.

A number of its representatives, along with County Board officials, would be part of a committee that would from now on oversee the project, paying particular attention to Louth’s financial plan.

It could also examine the actual building plans to see if it would be necessary to make changes.

It’s not known if the project will be scaled back, or done on a phased basis – much could depend on how Louth’s plan to raise its share of the cost stands up to scrutiny.

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When public debate was at its strongest a few weeks ago, fears were expressed by several that the whole idea of the long-awaited, much-needed county grounds might have to be scrapped; those fears can now be allayed.

The GAA knows how important it is for Louth to have a grounds capable of staging big inter-county league and championship matches and not having to look for a neutral grounds whenever there’s a home game with the crowd likely to exceed 3,000 or 4,000.

At the same time, it didn’t want a repeat of what happened in Cork and Mayo, the refurbishment of Pairc Ui Chaoimh and Castlebar’s McHale Park running millions over-budget, and then needing additional support from the authority. Croke Park’s intervention here is to be welcomed.