GAA’s informal talks with IRFU, FAI on Croke Park
And, he confirmed there is “cooperation” with the IRFU regarding the modernisation of Lansdowne Road, based on the GAA’s experiences in redeveloping their own stadium.
Briefing the media yesterday on his annual report for next month’s Congress, at which motions on Rule 42 will be debated, Mr Mulvihill was asked if there had been official approaches from either sporting body about using Croke Park.
He said: “Obviously there would be unofficial contacts and ‘nods and winks’. But they wouldn’t embarrass us by making a formal approach.”
While PRO Danny Lynch referred to a Sunday newspaper report about the timeframe for Lansdowne Road, Mr Mulvihill said he wouldn’t want to get involved “in their business, just as they wouldn’t want to get involved in ours”.
He added: “They have a lot to do and we’ll see what comes out of that exercise.”
But he said there had been “a degree of cooperation”.
Noting that voting on Rule 42 motions will be undertaken on written lists, Mr Mulvihill stressed the importance for the debate to be conducted in “a more reasoned and cooler manner”, than previously.
“It’s a very divisive issue and there are very strongly-held opinions on either side,” he said.
“The major lesson of last year to me was how close we went to having a very damaging episode for the whole Association. If you have strong opinions voice them, but don’t personalise them.”
He said it had been unfortunate the ex-Presidents had been “dragged” into the controversy last year following the decision to rule motions on Rule 42 out of order. Firstly, he said it was wrong to suggest they were ‘self-appointed’ (having been put there by rule) and secondly, almost half of them hadn’t attended any of the meetings at which decisions were taken.
“But they were all lambasted and all their photographs were published in the papers, including mine, even though I was in hospital when the decisions were taken. They got a lot of abuse last year. Some of them didn’t deserve it, and I don’t think any of them did,” he added. “This year has shown that the change made last year (by way of redrafting motions) worked very well. It got a very bad press initially this year and people jumped to conclusions, ‘here we go again’. There are 52 motions on the Congress agenda and half had been ruled out of order. That shows how effective this new system was in getting motions to the Congress floor that wouldn’t be there under the old system.
“But I will be very surprised if they are not challenged from the Congress floor - and I am not referring to any one topic. The ex-Presidents did their best to put motions in order, but I’m sure that loopholes will be found. It always happens.”
The debt on Croke Park now stands at €36 million, down from €98m two years ago.
Stadium director Peter McKenna, who is secretary of the Croke Park company, describes the debt as “very manageable”.
The reduction has been achieved primarily through the Government grant of €40m and a number of other components, such as the Hill 16 redevelopment coming in €6m below budget and Central Council grants (€4.5m last year and a further €3m this year).
Mr McKenna estimates the debt will paid off by 2011 at the latest, up to five years ahead of schedule. To date, a total of €43m has been generated from Central Council funds and this money is repayable. The company achieved an operating surplus of €13m, with €1.7m raised through the hire of the facilities in Croke Park.
Central Council finances (which are separate) show income for the past year at €34m.
Total gate receipts amounted to €24.19m, up 10% and representing 71% of the total income.
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