Croke Park’s one-year loan ‘holiday’ on Cork GAA debt
A temporary moratorium on the sum owed to the GAA, which last September amounted to €7.7m, has been signed off by the GAA’s Central Council.
The GAA has granted the Cork County Board a 12-month repayment break on its burdensome Páirc Uí Chaoimh debt.
In relation to its total stadium redevelopment overheads - which last September stood at over €30 million - Cork GAA will not have to make their annual €500,000 loan repayment to Croke Park this year, Examiner Sport understands.
A temporary moratorium on the sum owed to the GAA’s Central Council, which last September stood at €7,763,722, has been signed off by the association.
However, the interest of 1.9% will continue to accrue on the amount owed while the loan ‘holiday’ is subject to a six-month review. Contacted by the Irish Examiner last night, Cork GAA had no comment to make on the debt decision.
With no concerts at the venue this year, the county board’s revenue stream is significantly weaker than in 2022 when Ed Sheeran (twice), Elton John and Westlife played at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, along with hosting the sell-out Munster-South Africa rugby game last November.
As of the end of their 2022 financial year last September, Cork GAA owed just over €21m in stadium debt to the Bank of Ireland. This year, annual repayments to the bank increased from €1m to €1.5m.
In making their case to the GAA to stage the South Africa game, Cork explained that the large loans were “being financed within the broader context of the resolution of several legacy issues over the past two years relating to various legal, Revenue and local authority settlements, as well as the passing of a significant burden onto units through the introduction of the Rebels’ Bounty fundraising draw and the agreement of several new commercial arrangements with sponsors and partners.
“As a result, no further financing was sought from CLG throughout the Covid pandemic, when the stadium was largely closed. Also, the sale of lands at Kilbarry is expected to reduce the debt significantly within the next 12 months.”
Last August, Cork City Council recommended against An Bord Pleanála granting planning permission to the board for the €75m construction project of 319 houses on Cork GAA’s 37-acre site on the northside of the city. The case was due to be decided by An Bord Pleanála last October, but is still pending.
Last year, the County Board draw, Rebels Bounty, brought in over €380,000 for the board. Páirc Uí Chaoimh hosted this year’s Division 1 hurling final between Limerick and Kilkenny, but despite support from the Munster Council, it will not stage Sunday week’s provincial hurling final between Clare and Limerick following a successful late request by Clare to fix the game for their opponents’ TUS Gaelic Grounds.
Cork GAA target three major events in Páirc Uí Chaoimh every year and while there were five concerts in 2022, it has not hosted a gig this year.
“The geographical location of the stadium nationally makes it challenging to secure major GAA events on a regular basis,” advised Cork’s proposal to Central Council for Páirc Uí Chaoimh to stage the Munster rugby game. The South Africa game was worth over €150,000 to the Cork County Board, a figure which will be reflected in this year’s accounts.
Due to a clash between the Ed Sheeran concerts and Cork senior championship games last May, the hurlers’ Munster SHC round-robin game against Clare was played in Thurles and the senior footballers’ provincial semi-final rearranged for Páirc Uí Rinn. The condensed inter-county season has presented challenges in arranging concerts.
Meanwhile, An Garda Síochána have confirmed they did not advise that the Wexford-Kilkenny Leinster SHC final round game in Chadwicks Wexford Park last Sunday be delayed by 10 minutes.
In a response to a query from the Irish Examiner, the Garda press office stated “any decision made in relation to the start time of a match is a matter for the event organiser.”
In the interests of fairness, all three final round games, including Westmeath-Antrim in TEG Cusack Park and Dublin-Galway in Croke Park, were scheduled to start at 2pm. However, the game in Wexford was put back because of traffic.
A post on Wexford’s official Twitter account read: “Today’s match has been postponed by 10 minutes due to traffic congestion outside the ground. Throw-in will now be at 2.10 p.m.”
The attendance at the game was later confirmed as 9,725, over 5,000 shy of the capacity crowd that watched the counties’ Walsh Cup game under the stadium’s new lights in January. On Sunday, Wexford beat Kilkenny to remain in the Leinster SHC.
