GAA told to reapply for €40m State funds

THE Taoiseach last night told GAA president Seán McCague to reapply for the €40 million grant he had promised to the organisation and that he wanted Croke Park opened up for soccer.

Insisting there were no preconditions attached to future grants, Bertie Ahern told the GAA that funding will not be linked to the opening of Croke Park for use in the European football championships in 2008.

Nonetheless, following a meeting with the Taoiseach, Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy and Sports Minister John O’Donoghue, GAA officials were left in no doubt of Mr Ahern’s desire to have Croke Park available for Euro 2008.

The GAA reacted angrily last month to Mr Ahern’s request that Croke Park be made available for the joint Ireland-Scotland bid to host Euro 2008, following the Government’s decision that the Bertie Bowl would not be publicly funded.

The GAA may now be forced to reconsider its stance at its Special Congress meeting this weekend.

The day before the GAA Congress meeting in April 2001, where a motion on opening Croke Park for soccer was due to be decided, Mr Ahern committed a 75m package to the organisation in return for its support of the National Stadium. The motion was subsequently defeated leaving the door open for the building of the Bertie Bowl.

Mr O’Donoghue said the GAA will now have to reapply for the more than 40 million outstanding from this package, after the government decided last month that the National Stadium will not be publicly funded.

Denying the new application would be looked upon more favourably if Croke Park was made available for Euro 2008, Mr O’Donoghue said there were no preconditions on funding.

“There are no preconditions being imposed on the GAA by the Government in relation to their application for funding.

“We will consider the GAA’s application when it comes in but we have stated clearly what our preference is in relation to 2008.”

Leaving the meeting, Mr McCague accepted the previous agreement no longer exists and said he felt a fresh application would be treated favourably.

“We didn’t talk in exact figures but we were advised to submit a claim which we will do. We hope it will be dealt with very positively,” he said.

The Taoiseach’s Euro 2008 request will be put to the GAA Central Council, Mr McCague said, but this would not impact upon the renewed application.

“There’s no pre-condition on the use of Croke Park and never has been. That wasn’t a factor at all,” he said.

The GAA still supported a second stadium and would be interested in using it, Mr McCague added.