County Ground crux is the big issue - again!
GAA LOUTH CONVENTION 2016
NOT for the first time, the Drogheda County Grounds was the major talking point at Louth Convention on Monday night - but will it be the last?
Treasurer Aidan Berrill fired the first shots, insisting: ‘If Drogheda isn’t closed this time next year for redevelopment work then we will all have failed in our responsibilities.’
He pledged to leave no stone unturned to get the current proposal over the line and urged clubs to keep the issue front and centre too.
‘This issue has stifled our county for years,’ he said. ‘The late Peter Hoey said it was being discussed at county board meetings as far back as the 60s and last week we were in the company of a past high-ranking officer in Croke Park who also recalled being involved in discussions with county officials.
‘This summer Drogheda was rated the worst county ground in the country and that is an indictment on us all. We are the worst county in Ireland when it comes to county grounds and it is holding us back. We need a modern ground to be proud of, that our county teams can run out on with pride and that our club players want to run out on for finals.
‘It’s too big an issue not to be addressed and it will be the first item on our agenda for 2017 and I would urge all clubs to make it the first item on their agenda.’
In his address later in the evening, Chairman Des Halpenny echoed the same concerns and intimated that an announcement may not be far away.
‘I fully stand behind Aidan’s comments and back them up 100%. The County Grounds plan continues to progress, not as quickly as we would have hoped, but it is progressing and it’s well advanced.
‘We have made a significant outlay on designs and plans and a provisional planning application is ready and waiting subject to final approval; the funding is in place at provincial and national level; alternative playing and training arrangements for O Raghallaigh’s are in place; the county council have been briefed.
‘With regard to the legal side, the matter is currently with the GAA’s solicitors who are working on behalf of the GAA and the County Committee. They are preparing extensive paperwork to address, among other things, the current development and how it will proceed, and the management of it going forward. Included in that is the winding down of the Drogheda Gaelic Grounds company and the transfer of the grounds from the company to the Louth County Board. We expect to hear correspondence from our legal team within the next week.’