GAA to spend €71m on revamp of Croke Park
:: EU loan will pay half the cost of first revamp since major rebuild
THE GAA is to spend an estimated €71m redeveloping Croke Park by expanding its conference and hospitality facilities and upgrading its museum, the Irish Independent has learned.
The works will mark the first large-scale construction works at the stadium since a major rejuvenation which started in 1991 and ended in 2005. That project cost more than €260m.
Croke Park is one of the largest stadiums in Europe and has a capacity for just over 82,000 spectators.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend the Gaelic Athletic Association about €35m to cover the cost of the latest redevelopment project.
A spokesman for the bank said the loan has been approved in principle by the EIB’s board of directors.
He said that legal negotiations are on-going and that further details will be announced when the loan is signed.
However, the spokesman confirmed that the Croke Park project includes the redevelopment and expansion of conference facilities on the Cusack Stand side of the stadium, an upgrade of the GAA museum and further development of GAA hospitality venues “around Croke Park”.
The GAA Museum at Croke Park opened in 1998.
“The expected EIB support will enable the GAA to strengthen business and sporting activity at Croke Park and increase economic opportunities in north Dublin in the context of the GAA’s wide and influential role in Irish society and culture,” he said.
The spokesman said the GAA was “Ireland’s largest sporting organisation supporting cultural and sporting life at 2,200 clubs across all 32 counties in Ireland and one of the great amateur sporting associations in the world”.
The loan will be made to the GAA on a long-term basis.
“EIB support for the pioneering GAA project builds on a long track record of supporting urban development and economic development across Ireland, including recent initiatives to respond to challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit,” the bank’s spokesman said.
The GAA has had to stall a number of development projects around the country due to the impact of the pandemic.
‘Increase in economic opportunities for north Dublin’