GAA must commit to borrowing €70m
And, he said, it may result in the completion of the northern (Hill 16) end being delayed for up to five years.
Meanwhile, there will be no move by the association in the short term on the issue of making Croke Park available for the 2008 European soccer championships.
And, according to Mulvihill, there is no question of any future grant aid being conditional on the membership agreeing to alter its policy to permit other sports to be played there.
In relation to comments by Bertie Ahern in the Dáil last week that he was optimistic of the rule being changed, Mulvihill said he understood where the Taoiseach was coming from.
"He is well aware of the GAA and how the GAA thinks. He knows that there was almost a majority in favour two years ago, whereas last year the pendulum had swing considerably against," he commented.
"He knows the GAA is quite a volatile organisation and that attitudes have changed considerably in the
organisation.
"I would say that the Taoiseach is entitled to form conclusions like that. Other people might have different conclusions, but we do not see that in any way as interfering in our affairs."
Mulvihill stressed that the question of public funding being linked to a change of policy was not an issue at all as far as they were concerned.
There has never been any suggestion of one item being tied to another. "We have had meetings with the Government before and since. In fairness to all the Government ministers we have dealt with, there never has been a suggestion or a link between the two aspects," he added.
"We recognise the Government is in a difficult financial situation. We are not trying to embarrass them in anyway. We are very appreciative of the money we have got in the past and we recognise the difficulties they have.
"But, we hope there will be money there in the future and that we will be treated as fairly as we were in the past. We can't ask for any more than that."
Mulvihill pointed out that, precisely because of the withdrawal of Government funding, the association needed to plan its budget for the next four or five years. Currently, they are in the process of reaching agreement with the banks with regard to overall borrowing requirements on the understanding that, within the next year and a half they will not be getting the remainder of the money. This amounts to €39m approximately.
"We have to re-schedule our borrowing. There will be substantially more as a result of the new situation we find ourselves in. That is not an impossible situation. We just have to organise that borrowing."
The completion of the northern end (subject to planning permission) would entail additional expenditure of almost €25m. Accordingly, there is a major question mark over when the final phase of the redevelopment will be tackled.
"We have already borrowed €60m. and the completion of the project is going to bring borrowing up to something in the order of €70m. So, to complete the northern end would bring total borrowings up to in excess of €90m. We do not think that is sustainable and we don't think it's wise to borrow that amount of money.
"Really, what we are talking about is trying to strike a reasonable balance between the amount of our borrowing for the capital costs related to Croke Park and to the other projects we have on hand. We are thinking in that regard of issues such as the implementation of proposals in regard to Dublin and overall games promotion proposals and some element of borrowing may be required for some of that expenditure."
The net effect of the withdrawal of government funding was "a very major readjustment" of their financial planning, specifically having to take some hard decisions. "It would be a very simple exercise to look at just one year (for budgetary purposes), but we feel that would not be realistic. We feel we have to be making long-term commitments and that is why we have talked about indicative figures for a five-year period and looking at where we stand."
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
