Cork GAA land to be sold for housing to help reduce €30m debt

The Cork GAA HQ in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. File picture Dan Linehan

An Bord Pleanala has approved a Cork GAA County Board plan for more than 300 homes on the city’s northside as part of a strategic project designed to help reduce its near €30m debt.

The landbank in Kilbarry, which was bought by the county board in the 1960s to develop playing fields, is now expected to be sold with planning in place for 319 homes, a créche and a riverside park.

The proposed dwellings consist of 85 semi-detached houses, 118 terraced homes, 53 duplex units and 63 apartments.

The site, next to the Old Whitechurch Road, extends to 14.80 hectares (36.6 acres) and is next to public lands in the ownership of the Land Development Authority (LDA) which have scope for further strategic development.

The county board, which applied directly to An Bord Pleanála for the strategic housing development, welcomed the grant of planning and said it will study the conditions, which are understood to be relatively routine.

“This parcel of land was bought by Cork County Board in the 1960s and the land has since been zoned for mainly residential use,” its CEO Kevin O’Donovan said.

“The intention in recent times has always been to use this asset to provide much-needed housing on the northside of the city, while using the sale of the site to reduce the debts of Cork GAA.

“We will now review the decision in detail, with an intention to proceed with the sale at the earliest opportunity.

“The shortage of housing in Cork and across the country is well documented and this development will now provide homes for hundreds of families in the heart of a great GAA community.” 

The site has the old Whitechurch Road to its west, the Cork North Business Park to the south, the existing GAA grounds of Delaney’s GAA Club to the east with the Glenamought River along the northern boundary.