Land sale nets €405,000 for Wexford Board

Wexford GAA officials welcomed the sale of almost 26 acres of land which brought in a high price of €405,000.

The parcel of land which is adjoining the Centre of Excellence at Ferns was recently put up for sale by the county board in an effort to ease his current financial position.

The auction was given the go-ahead by the board at their monthly meeting on Tuesday night last despite a last ditch objection from the former chairman, Ger Doyle, who is a trustee of the land.

Doyle had a letter before the meeting objecting to the sale of the land as he claimed he had not been involved in discussions to sell it as a trustee. But when the board took a vote at their meeting there was unanimous approval backing the sale which would go some way towards easing the county’s parlous financial situation.

Even with the sale of this parcel of land, Wexford GAA is left with more than 50 acres, which they claim is more than adequate to complete the Centre of Excellence, work on which has got underway over the last two weeks. The spotlight has been on the Centre of Excellence in Ferns for some time now but, with the sale of this land, plus the fact monies are now in place to proceed with the development, it will help bring closure to what has been a divisive issue for the past three years.

Current chairman Diarmuid Devereux has worked diligently since he assumed office 16 months ago to bring the Ferns project forward.

“I am delighted with the sale and the price achieved.

“There was great interest shown at the auction with a number of bidders. We realised more than €15,000 per acre which was tremendous,” he said.

Now Devereux says the monies will be of considerable benefit to the Association in the county.

“We are now in a position to clear the remaining €250,000 left on Wexford Park, while also dealing with the hangover from the Glenbrien land sale loss.

“This will also leave us with a surplus to deal with other financial matters. It will considerably ease the county’s finances but there will be no letting up as there is still much to address,” he said.