Portlaoise deny €6.5m bailout bid

PORTLAOISE GAA club officials insist they are not looking for a €6.5m “bailout” from Croke Park and have described as premature reports that the Cork-based developers due to buy their grounds have pulled out of the deal.

The Laois outfit had agreed to sell their property on Fr Browne Avenue to Firestone Development Ltd for a sum of €19m but it was reported locally yesterday that the agreement had fallen through as a result of a planning decision last month.

Firestone had intended to build a residential, retail and leisure development on the 17.2-acre site before a ruling from An Bord Pleanála last month that it would compromise Portlaoise’s “existing retail core.”