Planning permission for the Hill redevelopment has been obtained

The GAA has admitted that the redevelopment of the Hill 16 end of Croke Park could remain on hold for some time because of a lack of funds.

The Irish Government announced late last year that it would be unable to give the full amount of the 76 million Euro grant promised in 2001.

Government officials said that the Croke Park funding had been linked to the Stadium Ireland project which is now on hold.

At the GAA's annual congress in 2001, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern announced a grant of 76m Euro to the association but only around halve of that sum has been paid.

Croke Park PRO Danny Lynch acknowledged that the GAA is heavily in debt.

"The original proposals for the development of Hill 16 are not possible at the present time - they're just not financially possible," he said.

"We have completed a capital development that would be daunting by any international standards and that was originally factored in on the assumption that there would be full Government funding".

We're 7m Euro in the red as it is and it will cost another 30m Euro million to finish the northern end of the ground GAA president Sean Kelly

The GAA has planning permission for the Hill development but there is no prospect of work beginning in the near future.

Lynch's comments may lead to calls from within the liberal wing of the association for Croke Park to be opened up to other sports.

Hosting soccer and rugby internationals would be an obvious way of raising huge sums of money for the GAA but the old guard of the association would be trenchantly against such a move.

The GAA's controversial Rule 42 precludes the playing of rugby and soccer at the association's grounds.

Prior to assuming the GAA presidency in April, Sean Kelly indicated on numerous occasions that he might be in favour of a change of policy.

Kelly said earlier this week that the GAA was in "dire straits".