GAA to provide cardiac screeningfor teenagers

The GAA is to provide free cardiac screening to teenagers living near Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork city as part of an agreement secured over a planned €70m redevelopment of the stadium.

It will also allow local schools play on its all-weather pitches and permit community groups the use of meetings rooms in the complex, once the project is completed.

Cork County GAA Board chairman Bob Ryan confirmed a memorandum of understanding had been signed by the organisation and Ballintemple Area Residents Association.

The agreement was announced last week during a Bord Pleanála oral hearing into the stadium’s revamp and led to the residents’ body withdrawing its reservations.

Mr Ryan said the GAA intends to install cardiac screening equipment in the stadium for all county players from under 14 level to seniors.

He said that the county board would also make specific days available when experts would be on hand to carry out “free of charge” tests for local teenagers.

“We will also let the local primary schools have use of our all-weather pitches for training or matches free of charge. They will have to be booked in advance and with our agreement, but it will be ideal for them as they will be available during the day, when we are unlikely to be using them,” Mr Ryan said.

In addition, he said meeting rooms within the new state-of-the-art complex will also be made available to local community groups, again free of charge.

“I was absolutely delighted to finalise an agreement on behalf of the county board with the people of Ballintemple and hopefully it’s a template which can make us good neighbours into the future,” Mr Ryan said.

The county board has also agreed in principle to create a community fund to support specific local initiatives and, so far as it can, within the law ensure that “casual and other employment opportunities that arise from activity at the redeveloped stadium will in the first instance be availed of by local young people”.

Although he will be stepping down as county board chairman in December, Mr Ryan will continue his role as chairman of the stadium’s redevelopment steering committee and was “committed” to maintaining a good working relationship with the local community.

The memorandum agrees that during construction both sides will “meet monthly or more frequently if required” to review the effectiveness of construction management protocols and to discuss any adverse impact on the community.

After completion, a group consisting of two county board members, two members of BARA, a Garda representative and an official from the city council will meet every two months to discuss matters of concern and to review and prepare for significant games /events at the stadium.

Mr Ryan said, in so far as it could, the county board will furnish BARA with a full yearly calendar of events.