This article is from page 9 of the 2006-03-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
THE Clare GAA board will, in the next week, begin discussions with a number of property magnates who have made submissions to develop a new GAA headquarters for the county.
The Clare People can reveal that the board received 10 submissions from developers.
These submissions were tabled before the cut-off date of March 1 and offers include bids by parties from inside and outside the county.
The county board is remaining tight-lipped on the impending negotiations.
But sources have revealed that competition amongst property developers to secure Cusack Park has been unprecedented over the past month.
“There has been a great response and now the board will be sitting down to meet interested parties over the next month to see what avenue it will go down with Cusack Park. Then a document will be prepared for the clubs in April,” a county board source told The Clare People .
It’s understood that the submissions were made directly by property developers, or by auctioneers, estate agents and solicitors acting for property developers.
Developmental interest in Cusack Park was sparked by a survey by The Clare People , which revealed that 78 per cent of club chairmen in the county were in favour of selling the county grounds and building a new stadium in the environs of Ennis. This represents an overwhelming endorsement for cashing in on what has been described as “the jewel in Clare’s GAA crown” in the same year as the county gears up to commemorate Michael Cusack on the 100th anniversary of his death.
The first hints that Cusack Park could be sold came at the Clare GAA convention in December, when board chairman, Michael McDonagh, said that “we might have to develop a new stadium”.
The first bid for Cusack Park was made by a consortium involving businessmen Bernard McNamara, Sean Lyne and Noel Connellan.
In a €30 million proposal, they pledged to build a new state-ofthe-art Cusack Park on the Quin Road, in exchange for the existing ground.
The Clare People understands that the other high-profile submission has been made by Michael Lynch & Company.
The company has pledged to develop a stadium, also on the Quin Road, in return for Cusack Park.
Meanwhile, just as speculation about Cusack Park mounts, the county board has received full planning permission to develop two grass pitches and dressing rooms at the 70 acres it bought in Caherloghan in Tulla.