Thomond Park house sale set to go ahead

RUGBY bosses in Limerick who want to buy 16 houses adjacent to Thomond Park in order to double the crowd capacity of the stadium, remained tight-lipped yesterday following meetings with house owners at Knockalisheen Road.

The Munster Branch rugby bosses wrote to the residents indicating they were prepared to do a deal. Thirteen of the houses are privately owned, while three are owned by Limerick City Council.

Residents rejected an initial €200,000 per house last October and have sought prices in the region of €350,000.

Indications are that the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is prepared to meet this demand.

Thomond Park has a capacity of 13,000 but the IRFU says it must be developed into a 28,000 all-seater stadium if it is to remain as the home of Munster rugby.

A consultancy firm has identified two possible alternative sites for a replacement stadium the University of Limerick campus and the old racecourse at Greenpark.

Munster will play their next big Heineken European Cup match at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, due to the lack of crowd capacity at Thomond Park.