No more funding for Croke Park this year - O'Donoghue

The GAA will not receive any further Government funding for its Croke Park stadium this year. The Minister for Arts, Tourism and Sport, Mr O'Donoghue, yesterday ruled out giving the association the money before the end of the year.

"In terms of the capital spending which I have for this year, I have no provision whatsoever for the type of expenditure that would be required by the GAA for Croke Park.

"The money which I have is for far smaller concepts and projects than that," said Mr O'Donoghue.

Two years ago, the Government announced a grant of €76 million to the GAA, but so far has only delivered on half that amount.

Mr O'Donoghue said yesterday that funding was linked to the Stadium Ireland project. He said any re-application from the GAA for a Government grant could not be met under current capital spending.

The lack of additional funding is now certain to make the issue of the GAA's Croke Park debts the hot topic at this weekend's GAA annual congress, which takes place in Belfast.

"It's well known that the GAA have already got a substantial amount of money from the Government - well in excess of €60 million," Mr O'Donoghue said.

"The remainder of that money was predicated upon there being an Exchequer-funded national stadium.Once that fell, then the commitment for funding agreed with the GAA fell with it."

While the GAA has made a re-application for funding, it will now be 2004 at the earliest before anything can be delivered.

The Minister has also indicated that Abbotstown is likely to be revisited as a proposed site for a new national stadium. It remains one of four locations to be considered in the weeks ahead in light of pending reports from the IRFU and the FAI.

The other sites being considered are Lansdowne Road, the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend and the Newlands Cross site, all in Dublin.

The joint proposal from the governing bodies of the FAI and IRFU, which are due to report on their preferred choice for a new State-funded home for Irish rugby and soccer, was originally due in mid-April. That proposal will now take several more weeks.