Oireachtas

GAA refused to change rule on Croke Park

The last government offered to pay for the completion of Croke Park on condition that the GAA opened it up to other sports, the…

Fri Dec 05 1997 - 00:00

The last government offered to pay for the completion of Croke Park on condition that the GAA opened it up to other sports, the former minister for finance said. ail.

Mr Ruairi Quinn said the government offered to use National Lottery money to fund the construction, as there was a surplus of £60 million in lottery funds.

He asked the Taoiseach if he had received any undertaking from the GAA that it would now change its rules, given the Budget allocation of £20 million over three years for the stadium, compared with £10 million for people with disability.

The Labour leader said he was telling the House "something that is not known publicly". He made "informal inquiries" to the GAA two years ago. "The deal was simple," he said. "Let us complete the Croke Park stadium, that wonderful edifice, with lottery money on condition that the park would be open to all sporting codes."

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The reply that came back, he said, "sadly, was that it was not possible to do that". The GAA was unable to bring about a change in its rules.

He asked the Taoiseach if the GAA has given any undertaking to "revisit, consider or change its internal rules to allow other codes to be played on that wonderful stadium, the restoration of which we fully support". He said that if no undertaking had been given, then "in that little vignette of a policy decision he has illustrated the social division and the entirely unfair way in which the Government has approached its first Budget".

Mr Ahern told the Dail that he personally believed it would not be "too many years away before at least one other national sport is played at Croke Park". He said that when grants were given to Shelbourne Park and Shamrock Rovers and others, "we didn't say that hurling had to be played".

He told deputies that concerts were held at the stadium and American football took place last summer. He said the GAA was prepared to host athletics events, European competitions, if they fitted in with the GAA's own fixtures. It had also said that, as time goes on, it would continue to look at other sports being played there, the Taoiseach added.