Final Páirc bill will be ‘significantly more than envisaged’

GAA director general Tom Ryan has made it clear it will be Cork’s responsibility and not those of other counties to make up the major overrun on the Páirc Uí Chaoimh redevelopment.

Although no final cost has yet been confirmed, Ryan said the €110 million figure mentioned by national stadium and commercial director Peter McKenna in the Irish Examiner last month was “the worst, worse case” scenario but the total bill and debt would be “significantly more than envisaged”.

By means of heading up the newly-formed Páirc Uí Chaoimh committee as well as helping to restructure debt and short-term funding, Croke Park has lent a helping hand to ensure the impact is not as great on Cork GAA and their clubs. However, Ryan could not rule out levies being imposed on clubs — “That is one for Cork to manage, really. Some counties don’t do that in order to fund their grounds and stadiums. It is one for Cork to determine how best they manage it”.

Ryan sees the stadium helping to wash its own face but pointed out it will be Cork that has to service the debt. “It is a unit of the Association the same as any other so it will benefit from whatever grants or assistance are available from the Association, be it in Cork or nationally. The hierarchy of the stadium is owned by Cork so there is an onus and a responsibility on Cork to see it right.

“It (Páirc Uí Chaoimh) is an enterprise that will generate a return. And if it is run properly, which I have no doubt that it will, it will generate a return which will fund it. And it is a mirror of the arrangement that we have here (Croke Park), it is a separate company owned by the county board but the debts and so on are debts of that company.”

Ryan went into detail about the figures quoted by McKenna and the €86m figure mentioned by Cork chairperson Tracey Kennedy at last month’s convention.

“I suppose the €110m number is the worst, worst case. From a financial perspective, in terms of my own way of thinking about things, that’s how I would couch things always, you start at the most conservative estimate and, in all likelihood, things will be better than that. I think that will be the case this time as well. €85m is what they call the construction cost to date. It will find a median between the 85 and the 110. The 110 includes contingencies, which are not included in the 85.”

Ryan expanded on what is holding up ascertaining the final cost. “There are four key things that are still at issue: one is arbitration with a contractor, there’s a tax question, there’s one or two other bits of negotiations on things to be resolved and there’s a significant asset sale, all of which will nudge the cost down towards the number you referred to from Cork.

I’m not being evasive, I actually don’t know where it’s going to be in that range. Logic suggests... well, it’s a fact, it will be between those two. It will only be when those three or four little processes are complete that we’ll know finally where it ends up at.

“In fairness, it presents a problem but the facility is there, it’s a fine facility and we’ll get great use out of it. Páirc Ui Chaoimh is within our control and we can resolve it. There’s a good finance plan in place there. There’s plenty of expertise on-hand, both in Cork and here, to lend a hand to make sure that the ground will operate well there.”

Ryan would not be drawn on what aspect of the Páirc controversy disappointed him but stated the financial projections for the stadium were “overly-ambitious”. It had been Cork and the GAA’s intention for the venue rebuild to be a debt-free project and he was keen to take collective responsibility for the oversight.

“I think what we all set out to do at the start, in hindsight, it was a stretch. The target was to do it without having any debt at the end. I’d say you could probably count on the fingers of one hand even the number of club projects that are able to achieve that.

“Almost inevitably we were going to meet some debt to fund the Cork project so it’s not a unique outcome and it’s not insurmountable.”

As for the Páirc situation convincing the GAA to take a more hands-on approach to future capital initiatives such as Walsh Park and Páírc Tailteann, Ryan replied: “Certainly, we will make sure there’s a direct involvement from here (Croke Park)”.