Cork GAA board ordered to pay over €300k for lighting on routes to Páirc Uí Chaoimh
Cork City Council had sought €750,000 while the GAA had claimed €60,000 would be the appropriate amount to pay. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
An Bord Pleanála has ruled that the Cork County GAA Board should pay a special contribution of over €300,000 to Cork City Council in relation to the expansion of Páirc Uí Chaoimh – over five times the amount which the sports body believes was the appropriate sum.
However, the sum is also considerably less than the €750,000 which had been sought by the council.
The dispute between the Cork County GAA Board and the council over the cost of improved lighting on pedestrian routes to Páirc Uí Chaoimh arose as a result of the grant of planning permission in November 2014 for an expansion of the stadium, including a provision of a new all-weather playing pitch at the show grounds as part of the creation of a centre of excellence.
As part of that ruling, An Bord Pleanála imposed a condition that the developer should fund and install improved lighting on approaches to the stadium.
Following an appeal by the Cork County GAA Board, however, the planning appeals authority substituted it with a condition that the GAA board should make a special contribution towards improvements to street lighting along Monahan Road, Centre Park Road, the Old Railway Line and the Marina, with the sum to be agreed with the council.
An inspector with An Bord Pleanála said the new lighting was necessary as the longer use of hours with the expanded facilities at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, especially after dark, made an upgrading of lighting “an immediate necessity”.
The Old Railway Line and parts of the Marina are still unlit.
The GAA body claimed €60,000 would be the appropriate amount to pay, while the council estimated the cost at €750,000 in 2014.
In discussions between the parties over subsequent years, the council estimated the GAA’s contribution should be between €786,000 and €860,000, while the Cork County Board continued to offer just €60,000.
The council claims that about half the costs of improvements to public lighting should be borne by the stadium’s owners.
Records show the council was originally concerned about public lighting in the area following a Bruce Springsteen concert at the stadium in July 2013.
Concern was also raised about the inadequacy of street lighting at a concert in Páirc Uí Chaoimh by Ed Sheeran in May 2018, when the concert promoter installed multiple lighting towers to ensure the safety of concert-goers.
Gardaí also raised concerns about the lighting on a link road to the stadium at the time.
The Cork County GAA Board claims an agreement between the parties had been reached in May 2014 on how to calculate the amount but it had been broken when the council sought to add an extra 2km of roadway in May 2016.
The GAA board said the council failed to recognise that other people in the area and not just those going to the stadium would also benefit from the improved lighting.
It claimed the promoters of other developments in the South Docklands area had not been asked to make a similar special contribution.
The GAA board also claimed the planning condition was inoperable as it did not specify the works which should be undertaken.
Cork City Council said its estimates were “not excessive or unreasonable but rational and proportionate.”
An inspector with An Bord Pleanála said the council’s claim that the GAA board should bear 48% of the costs was reasonable given the concern about night time concerts at the stadium.
However, he said costs incurred by the council to date should be excluded from calculation of the amount.
An Bord Pleanála fixed the sum to be paid by Cork County GAA Board at €307.823.
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