Despite €31.1m debt, Cork GAA target development of centre of excellence

The 2025-30 strategic plan noted how “the lack of training facilities threatens to undermine the incredible work done by both voluntary and professional personnel with our county teams”. All inter-county managers, the document added, “are united in the belief that the requirement of a home for our teams is now essential”.

The financing of any new training facility will be closely watched given the same strategic plan talked about restoring financial stability and tackling the “chronic cashflow issues” that are faced in servicing “significant” stadium debt.

That €31.1m of stadium debt, which has reduced only fractionally over the past 12 months, received minimal airtime during convention. 

Chairman Pat Horgan made no reference to stadium debt during his speech, while treasurer Diarmuid Gowen dealt briefly with the matter at the outset of his report.

Gowen’s standout remark was to state that Cork GAA’s financial situation is “extremely challenging”.

“The servicing of the debt has a serious impact on cashflow and our overall profitability, there’s no denying that. There’s a load of people talking about it,” Gowen conceded.

“We have examined in detail our financial situation going forward and, as an element of the board’s five-year strategic plan, the situation is extremely challenging.” 

The treasurer, in the course of his report, did reveal that the county board made a €200,000 payment to Pairc Uí Chaoimh in 2024, as committed to under a Croke Park funding arrangement. While impacting negatively on the board’s bottom line, which was a surplus of €52k, the payment enhanced the income ledger of the stadium accounts.

Bar linking it to their funding arrangement with Croke Park, there was no specific explanation for the subvention, nor was it queried from the floor.

When Carraig Na Bhfear delegate Don Hegarty sought an update on the Kilbarry landbank and the hope that it’s sale would put a significant dent in Cork’s mountain of debt, county board CEO Kevin O’Donovan said their initial timeline of a 2025 summer sale has been delayed by the Judicial Review application seeking to quash An Bord Pleanála’s granting of planning permission.

In September, the planning body greenlighted the development of more than 319 homes on the landbank owned by the county board. The GAA bought the 14.80 hectares site on the northside of Cork city in the 1960s.

The proposed 85 semi-detached houses, 118 terraced homes, 53 duplex units and 63 apartments hit a snag when an application, by way of Judicial Review, was lodged in November to quash the An Bord Pleanála decision.

“The request to quash the planning, given by An Bord Pleanála in Kilbarry, is unfortunately a matter for An Bord Pleanála to fight. We are an associated party to that. We require them to defend the planning that they awarded, and we’ll be supporting that, but it is only getting up and running at the moment,” O’Donovan explained.

“It has pushed the timeline on Kilbarry out further. There is an adverse possession case related to Kilbarry, and we are fighting that similarly.

“But a timeline that we would have liked to put on Kilbarry of next summer now looks like being more in the medium-term than the short-term.

“We have it valued in preparation for sale, but that is commercially sensitive and we wouldn’t release that at the moment. We were in the process of preparing for sale, and had got four evaluations on it, but that is commercially sensitive and it is now premature also because there is a delay.” 

A second question from the floor concerned the Revenue reviews ongoing in Galway, Mayo, and Wexford, and the potential for the taxman to come looking at Cork accounts and payments going back the years. 

In response, Gowen gave no indication of Cork joining the list of counties to be scrutinsed by Revenue.

“There was a meeting there this evening, that is no secret,” said the treasurer, “there are three counties under review, and what is going to happen next in relation to the other counties under review, under audit, it is not quite clear, but there is discussions going on in relation to how will the GAA handle this, as a group or individually. It is up in the air at present.” 

Despite a 20% increase in team spend and the county’s total crossing the €2m mark for the first time, Gowen said Cork had “bucked the national trend” of runaway team costs as when you removed the €370,000 bill for the recent team holiday, the year-on-year increase was a minimal €22k.