This article is from page 9 of the 2006-02-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
LAND on the site of the old Our Lady’s Hospital grounds has emerged as another possible site to house a new Cusack Park if the Clare County GAA Board decides to leave its existing county grounds headquarters on the Causeway of Ennis.
The Clare People has learned that a tract of land at Our Lady’s, numbering 14 acres, could yet be earmarked for a stadium development to rival the stadium bid already lodged with the county board for their consideration.
Speculation is that this new proposal will be tabled with the county board in a matter of days, one that centres around transforming the old Our Lady’s site into a technology/ sporting park with hotel facilities on site that would make Clare the provincial equivalent to Croke Park.
The landbank, which would be large enough to hold a stadium, is owned by property developers Martin Fitzgibbon and Paul Talty and hotelier Allen Flynn.
In October 2004 they purchased 14 acres of the Our Lady’s site and the hospital for €5.2 million.
Since then they have lodged an application for the development of a €20 million hotel on the site which has been approved by Clare County Council. The decision has now been referred to an Bord Pleanála on appeal, after Green Party councillor Dónal Ó Béarra lodged an objection over the failure of the developers to provide guarantees over the future of a church on the Our Lady’s site.
When contacted by The Clare People on Monday, Martin Fitzgibbon was unavailable for comment, as were Paul Talty and Allen Flynn.
Meanwhile, Clare GAA chairman Michael McDonagh told The Clare People that “I know that the land is there at Our Lady’s, but nobody has to come to me. I know nothing about a proposal to build a new stadium at Our Lady’s, no one has produced anything to me yet,” he added.
At last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the county board in the West County Hotel, Mr McDonagh told delegates that two more offers were in the pipeline for developing a new Cusack Park away from its current home in Ennis.
This follows on from the commitment given by businessmen Noel Connellan, Sean Lyne and Bernard McNamara to deliver a 42,000 capacity stadium on a 15-acre site on the Quin Road within 18 months of receipt of planning permission from Clare County Council in return for possession of Cusack Park, which would then be redeveloped as a shopping centre.