Banner bosses clarify Cusack Park deeds puzzle

CLARE GAA chiefs last night dismissed suggestions that the Board does not own the county’s flagship ground, Cusack Park, in Ennis.

Secretary Pat Fitzgerald was responding to comments by the Mayor of Ennis Frank Neylon who claimed that the venue was not the GAA’s to sell - as was rumoured before Christmas.

Mr Neylon contended the field belongs to the people of Ennis and only they can decide on its future.

But Mr Fitzgerald rejected that contention.

“The Clare County Board took control of the grounds in 1979, and the deeds of the property are now in our possession.

“God be good to Brendan Vaughan (late former president of the Clare County Board), he was very much involved in that transaction, but it was difficult to get title to the grounds.

“It would not have been possible for us to sell a portion of the land to Aldi for a supermarket if we did not own the property. I can assure you and the Gaels of the county, the GAA own Cusack Park in total.”

The county secretary admitted that the option of a move to a greenfield site is being considered.

“Obviously we need a bigger venue if we are to enter into a home and away arrangements with the other Munster counties, but we would need something like 25 acres of land to develop a complete new stadium with a far bigger capacity than we have in Cusack Park at present.

“To find that kind of acreage we would have to move well outside of the town and that would not be practical.

“The population of Ennis is due to shoot up from 23,000 to 50,000 over the next 10 years and most of the green belt areas in the town and its surrounds are being bought up with a view to housing. It was in that context it was mentioned that the GAA might consider selling Cusack Park and moving further out. It’s something we are constantly looking at.”

Mr Fitzgerald ruled out any major development on a seven-acre sight which the county board owns at Tulla.

“That will be developed primarily for the training of our inter-county teams,” he added.

Clare County Board would favour a situation where a developer would come in and in return for buying Cusack Park, develop a state-of-the-art 30,000 capacity stadium on another site in Ennis, but that is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future.