Cork GAA ring-fence €1.75m to develop 'multi-pitch centre'

Pat Horgan, chairman Cork county board. Pic: Eddie O'Hare

While still tackling €30.8m of debt arising from the county board’s most recent large-scale infrastructural project, Cork GAA have announced the ring-fencing of €1.75m to develop a centre of excellence.

At Tuesday’s Cork GAA convention, chairman Pat Horgan told delegates that they are currently seeking a suitable site for their planned “multi-pitch centre”.

Following approval by the Cork GAA management and finance committees, Cork county board will allocate €500,000 to the first phase of the centre of excellence project, while €1m is available from the Munster GAA Sports Capital Project.

No timeline for the centre of excellence was outlined, with the board executive currently in the process of setting up funding and development committees to drive the project.

“The absence of a dedicated multi-pitch centre for our Gaelic games family is an ongoing issue,” said chairman Pat Horgan.

“The senior board will allocate €500,000 and following discussions with Rebel Óg, they will also commit funding. We have also had discussions with Munster Council and €1m is available from the Sports Capital Project, and together we will have a combined fund of €1.75m.

“I would like to acknowledge the small number of people who have been diligently working away in the background seeking to secure a suitable site. We now need to commit funding for a phased approach to continue sourcing, develop, build, etc.

“We want to continue to inspire participation in our Gaelic games by providing a facility of excellence with twin objectives of maximising participation and optimising performance for all the teams in our Gaelic games family.” 

Whereas Horgan told convention that Cork GAA’s “financial pathway is now clearly established under our five-year strategic plan” and that “significant progress” has been made to secure financial stability, county board treasurer Diarmuid Gowan described the county’s financial position as “still very challenging”.

“There is a lot of work that continues and needs to be done,” said Gowan following presentation of accounts that show a county board profit of €1.5m, an operating stadium loss of €1.1m, and overall stadium debt down from €31.1m to €30.8m.

“The servicing of our commitments is continuing to have a serious impact on our cashflow and on our overall profitability. While examining in detail our financial position going forward, in conjunction with the board's five-year strategic plan, I have to say that the situation is still very challenging.

“The next major premium ticket income will be 2029, but we are getting an annual income with the various ticket schemes that are out there.” Gowan said the undisclosed figure paid by Cork GAA to Revenue to cover potential tax liabilities for the period 2021-24, as revealed by the Irish Examiner last week, was not a “material” sum.

“Our auditors did not see that the amount was material when compared with the overall performance of the board and it didn't require any prior year adjustments and therefore, it wasn't a requirement to report the actual amount in the notes to the accounts.” 

Following questioning from the floor at the absence of a 2025 Profit and Loss account for Páirc Uí Chaoimh CTR, Gowan said this P&L account was deliberately not published because of “red-letter days that are coming up in relation to some cases that we are involved in”.

“It was decided that there are some commercially sensitive figures contained, so we are temporarily withholding some of the detail on that P&L,” the treasurer added.

Cork GAA CEO Kevin O’Donovan said he is hopeful of an update over the next month on the judicial review application against planning secured by the county board for a large housing scheme on their Kilbarry landbank. 

Cashing in on this piece of land is a central tenet of putting a large dent in the county’s debt bill of almost €31m.

“That is still on the desk of An Bord Pleanála. There will be movement on it very soon. We will hopefully have news on the process at the next county board meeting. It is just at a delicate point.

“We are expecting a decision from An Bord Pleanála soon with regard to whether they will fight the judicial review or take it back for review, so 50/50 decision for them.” 

Elsewhere in his chairman’s report, Pat Horgan called for the return of inter-county minor to U18 and that the number of permitted substitutions be increased to eight.

“Firstly, the game is very close to 80 minutes now and hopefully this will help to reduce the hassle on the line between management and fourth officials over the type of substitutes being introduced.” 

The motion that a player transferring to the ‘first club’ of his father can only do so if he is transferring to a lower-grade club was unanimously passed.