Cork chairman hoping to have land deal sorted by September

CORK GAA officials say talks on the purchase of Showgrounds land to facilitate the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh should reach an amicable solution “reasonably quickly.”

Talks between Cork City Hall and the County Board have stalled after an initial GAA offer fell short of the Council’s asking price, but Cork GAA chairman Jerry O’Sullivan believes that talks will be back on track shortly.

“We are still in discussions,” he stated, “and we are very anxious to move on with this land purchase to facilitate the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh. I’d be hopeful of something sorted by September.”

City Manager Tim Lucey told Cork councillors they had rejected the GAA’s initial offer to purchase over six acres of land in the Showgrounds.

The offer was not disclosed but it is believed it did not reach the €2.7m threshold set by previous City Manager Joe Gavin. That was already more than a million euro less than the €3.6m the Council paid the Munster Agricultural Society for the land in 2009.

In a letter to Cork GAA, Mr Lucey said he accepted the County Board was a non profit organisation, and that the project — increasing Pairc Uí Chaoimh capacity to 50,000 and developing adjacent all weather facilities — would provide badly needed employment, but he had to balance that against the Council’s accountability in the use of public funds. “In this regard, I cannot accept a proposal which would see the 6.82 acres of land in question being disposed of (for such a sum).”

However, GAA chairman Mr O’Sullivan said that ongoing talks were “very amicable” and there was no danger of the project being derailed or long-fingered by the delay in agreement.

Meanwhile tickets for Cork’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Mayo will be on sale tomorrow night at Páirc Uí Rinn between 6pm and 7pm.