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| | Wednesday, 23 October, 2002, 12:39 GMT 13:39 UK Croke Park funding withdrawn  The GAA needs the money to complete Croke Park Irish Sports minister John O'Donoghue has confirmed that the GAA will have to re-apply for funds to complete the re-development of Croke Park. Mr O'Donoghue was speaking after he and Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy had met GAA officials on Wednesday evening. Under the terms of a deal agreed last year, the GAA had been promised up to 76m Euro in return for allowing a number of matches to be staged at the proposed National Stadium. However, the deteriorating state of the Irish finances led to the government last month announcing a u-turn on its commitment to publicly fund the National Stadium project. The Irish Government has now also taken the decision not to pay the remainder of the sum promised to the GAA. This move could now affect the completion of the Croke Park redevelopment.
To date, about 38m Euro of the figure has been given to the GAA. The Irish Government said that as the funding was linked to use of the National Stadium, the GAA must re-apply because public money was no longer being used in the project. Although the Government said no pre-conditions would be imposed on the application, it again made it clear that it wants Croke Park to be included in the Euro 2008 bid. The GAA holds a major meeting this weekend to discuss proposed changes to gaelic football rules but there are no plans to revisit the issue of opening Croke Park to soccer and rugby. There have been suggestions that the Government might use the funding issue as a lever to force the GAA to make Croke Park available for the Euro 2008 bid. Formal bids for Euro 2008 will have to be submitted to Uefa by 11 December. The Irish part of the bid requires two stadia to be added to six Scottish venues. It now remains to be seen whether the Irish Government's decision will force the GAA into a re-think over the Euro 2008 issue. | |
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