Residents to oppose Croke floodlights plan

Local residents today pledged to object to the installation of floodlights at Croke Park because of the GAA’s ‘disrespectful’ attitude towards them.

The country’s largest sporting organisation has confirmed that it is in the process of applying for planning permission for floodlights in the stadium, following its decision to allow soccer and rugby internationals to be played there.

But the Croke Park Area Residents Alliance (CPARA) said it was seriously frustrated by the disrespectful attitude of the GAA towards the 20,000 people living in the area.

“They’ve promised they’ll address our issues and then they don’t honour them, and they don’t consult us in terms of issues that are coming up, like the whole floodlight issue which we will oppose and object to. It will lead to a further erosion of the quality of life for local people,” said chairman Pat Gates.

Residents have complained of being trapped in their homes when 80,000-strong crowds arrive on big match days, of parking and litter problems and of people damaging and urinating in their front gardens.

“We are asked to grin and bear the disruption in the name of the public interest. So we have to forgo our rights and that’s not fair in a democratic society,” said Mr Gates.

CPARA, which is umbrella group for 10 residents’ associations in the area, has emphasised that its problem is not with what sports are played at Croke Park, but the impact it will have on the community.

Two rugby and three soccer internationals are scheduled to take place there in 2007.

But residents fear that the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road, scheduled for completion in 2009, will take far longer and lead to more soccer and rugby matches at Croke Park.

Cahir O’Higgins, a solicitor living in the area around the stadium, said the GAA had to show a more understanding attitude.

“They need to work harder with the community and they need to be respectful of the fact that they cannot debar thousands of people from their homes.”

He said that as well as putting alternative arrangements in place for matches, the GAA should invest some of the revenue from Croke Park into the community.

“If you’re looking at schools which are the most dilapidated in the country and they’re making millions of quid, why not share the resources? It would be in everybody’s interest that our premier stadium is located in one of the finest areas in the country rather than the most impoverished.”

The GAA did fund the building of a €250,000 community centre in the area as a part of a 1998 agreement with residents.