Croke Park cites Fitzpatrick interview “inaccuracies” in letter to Louth GAA

The Annual Louth GAA convention was barely twenty minutes underway when the most hotly anticipated item on the evening’s agenda came up for discussion on Tuesday night. 

Children’s Officer Dermot Clark announced that he had received a communication from Croke Park that was to be read to the meeting.

The letter began by stating that the Central Council representatives of the new Louth Stadium Committee wished to address what they said were “inaccuracies” presented in the recent interview with the Louth GAA chairperson Peter Fitzpatrick published in the Irish Independent, Argus and Drogheda Independent.

The letter went on to detail “the key inaccuracies that need to be addressed”, saying that Croke Park were always at the table and have been actively been involved in the Louth Stadium project since December 2022.

It also claimed that had Louth GAA proceeded in July with the stadium build, funding would not have been sufficient to cover the extensive expenses, including the payment to the contractors and design team.

The letter further stated that the re-tendering of the project will be contingent upon the resumption of donor proceeds from the Louth Stadium project by INIS  (Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service). 

Additionally, it said, the phase one design must be reviewed and costed to align with the budget constraints of Louth GAA.

Finally, it claimed that there were incidents where requests to postpone the opening of tenders, and instructions to cease all works issued on  14th July were “disregarded or inaccurately communicated.”

The central council reps said that going forward, it was their intention “to engage in open dialogue with the Louth County Committee early in the New Year to rectify these misunderstandings and shed light on the efforts undertaken by the committee thus far.”

Taking the mic to address the letter, outgoing County Chairman Peter Fitzpatrick gave a robust response and said he would not apologise for pushing Croke Park to get a new stadium in Louth after waiting 65 years.

He said he was no longer a member of the committee, which meant “there are no shackles on me.” 

“I think it’s very important that the people of Louth know what is happening at the moment,” he said, adding, “I think Croke Park is totally and utterly wrong.”

“I was elected to the Central Council back there last year to represent Louth and I will be honest with you, in the last twelve months I’ve been a torn in their side.” 

Outlining his frustrations with headquarters, Fitzpatrick said that: “I have never or will ever look for a top job in Croke Park, my only reason for being in Croke Park is to fight Croke Park. 

“I am fed up for the last 65 years. No matter what happens in Louth, we always seem to be the bridesmaids and neve the brides and I really really am getting sick of it. 

“You go back to 2010 and look at the way Croke Park treated Louth. We don’t seem to have a voice up there and to me, and I’ll say it openly, there’s a clique in Croke Park…” 

He continued: “I was at a central council meeting in July and I swear, red rag to a bull [sic], they mentioned two million going to New York, Larry McCarthy (GAA  President), mentioned eighteen million going to Casement Park, mentioned money going to Kildare, Waterford, Meath. I asked what’s happening Louth, do you know what they said back to me? ‘Under consideration.’ Louth, Hyde Park and Semple are under consideration.”

Fitzpatrick also brought up a letter sent by a named individual in the middle of the year, saying “it was the biggest problem we had” in dealing with Croke Park, saying “that stalled the whole situation.” 

The letter raised a number of questions about Ground Stabilisation and the financing of the project. 

The outgoing chairman finished by saying it was imperative that everyone on the committee and Louth GAA generally work together to get the new stadium. 

When the floor was opened to the delegates Des McDonald of St. Nicholas’ took issue with what he said was the “singling out of one man” (who wrote the letter) and saying he was “the only reason we didn’t get funding from Croke Park.”

He called on Fitzpatrick to retract his statement and further stated, “if I was sitting in Croke Park, I wouldn’t give Louth any funding either.” 

“No one knows what’s going on. You were bringing stuff up here that this room has never heard before. If the people in this room had of heard half the stuff that was going on, you might have had backing here.”

“We need to get our house in order here, all the clubs,” he said.

He concluded by saying that he had no problem “with you [Fitzpatrick] getting up here to defend yourself.

In response Peter Fitzpatrick said that he had been “gagged” by Croke Park in how much of the information he could relay, but now that he was stepping down from official positions he could speak more freely and that as far as he was concerned “we do have our house in order” and that he was not singling out one individual but merely repeating information that was in the public domain. 

From the floor Cooley’s Brian Rafferty asked the outgoing Chairman if he thought it was helpful for him to “get up and say these things about Croke Park,” adding “we can’t go ahead with this stadium without Croke Park’s backing and I don’t think it’s helpful that you’re up there saying such bad things about Croke Park, at the end of the day, without them we won’t have a stadium.”

In response, Peter Fitzpatrick said he wouldn’t be chairman after tonight’s meeting and that the new chairman would be able to deal with Croke Park. 

Similarly, from the top table Dermot Clarke referenced the letter sent by the named person and said, “Yous as a management committee, the infrastructure committee that was looking after the stadium, received a letter from 9th June warning against proceeding with the proposed signing of the letter of intent with the construction company, etc. That was on 9th June [the letter] that went out to clubs happened on 27th June, so we were told long before [the letter] to stop.”

He went on to say that some of the Chairman’s words were not helpful and that the issue of IIP money and the Department of Justice was very sensitive.

He concluded by saying the new management committee will need to work with Croke Park and as their letter states headquarters was willing to do so.

In response Fitzpatrick said that if he was being honest “I don’t trust Croke Park” going on to say that he was initially told by Dublin that there was €5-6 million available for the stadium and then was subsequently told at a meeting on 18th July that “that money was never there.” 

He said that Louth was treated as a “small fish in a big pond” and that he felt that Croke Park was a “talk shop” adding “it’s jobs for the boys up in Croke Park.” 

He said he hoped the next chairman and central council rep would be strong with Croke Park but acknowledged they would all have to work together. 

Dermot Clarke replied that, “John Horan has said that Croke Park will be behind us, the big thing is that we get INIS to approve what we have to get done and the money starts coming forward,” adding that it was now in the hands of the Department of Justice, but that, “We’ve addressed all the issues.” 

Fitzpatrick reiterated that what he was doing with his comments was  “throwing down the gauntlet” to Croke Park to act and said he felt being told Louth Stadium was under consideration was “a warning” and he wanted to “flush Croke Park out and I want Croke Park to support the new stadium.”

From the floor Pat O’Brien of the Sean O’Mahony’s said that history would look favourably on the actions of Mr. Fitzpatrick as, unlike others in his position previously, he “had the balls” to take on the challenge of building a new stadium. 

This sentiment was met with considerable applause in the room.

Meanwhile Paul Murtagh of Mochtas said that while he agreed with 90% of what Pat O’Brien said he felt that “you (Fitzpatrick) shouldn’t have come out tonight [because] it looks like you’re bitter against Croke Park, because you’ve done such great work.” 

He said it was sad to see the top table questioning the chairman, saying it had been going on for twelve months and was “toxic” adding “it’s all over the internet.” … “every time you look it up, someone is saying something about the chairman, someone is saying something about the secretary, it’s gone toxic.” 

He said he was “delighted” Fitzpatrick was leaving for “your own good and health” after “the pressure you have been under.” 

He finished by thanking him for his service and by saying the new chairman needed to clean the slate and make it a priority to inform the people of Louth about what was going on.