A PROPOSAL to upgrade Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork to a 50,000 capacity stadium with a centre of excellence and an all-weather pitch nearby yesterday moved a step closer after Cork City Council voted to back the plan.
Councillors voted by 17 votes to 11 for the council to enter into negotiations with the GAA on the sale of some 6.8 acres of land near the ground, which would allow the Cork GAA county board develop an all-weather pitch and centre of excellence adjacent to the ground.
The vote, which followed a lengthy and passionate 2½-hour debate, saw councillors reject a recommendation by Cork city manager, Joe Gavin, that the council would sell just over two acres to the GAA to allow it refurbish and upgrade the stadium.
Instead, council officials will negotiate with the GAA for the transfer of a much larger area, which will allow it develop an all-weather floodlit playing pitch parallel to the covered stand on the south side of the ground.
The all-weather pitch plan would require the council to sell 6.24 acres of the showgrounds, which the city council bought as part of a 19.25 acre site for €11.5 million under a compulsory purchase order in 2007. The county board had originally sought 16 acres from the council but later submitted a revised plan and was seeking some 6.82 acres – 6.24 acres in the showgrounds south of Páirc Uí Chaoimh and a further 0.58 acres north of the stadium to allow for circulation and access.
The net effect of the upgrade would be to increase the stadium’s overall capacity from 43,500 to 50,000 – its original capacity when it first opened in 1974, but which it was forced to reduce following the introduction of safety guidelines for sports grounds.
The GAA proposal also involves the creation of a centre incorporating a gymnasium, medical room, dining facilities, dressing rooms and shower rooms as well as the adjacent all-weather pitch, which it said was feasible only on one site. However, council senior planner Ann Bogan advised in a briefing note last month that the accommodation of a full-size all-weather pitch was not compatible with plans to develop a flagship park in the area as part of the city’s overall plan for the docklands.
Yesterday Mr Gavin recommended that councillors approve a proposal to sell two acres, which would limit the GAA to simply developing Páirc Uí Chaoimh, omitting the all-weather facilities.
All six Fianna Fáil councillors along with four Fine Gael, three Labour, two Sinn Féin and two Independents backed the plan, while four Labour councillors along with three Fine Gael, one Sinn Féin, one Workers Party, one Socialist Party and one Independent councillor opposed it.