The Cork county GAA board has been ordered to pay a special contribution of more than€300,000 to Cork city council in relation to improved lighting for the expansion of Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
The figure is more than five times the amount the sports body believes was appropriate. However, the sum is also considerably less than the €750,000 that had been sought by the council.
The dispute over the cost of improved lighting on pedestrian routes to the stadium arose after planning permission was granted in November 2014 for its expansion. The plans include a new all-weather playing pitch at the Showgrounds as part of the creation of a Centre of Excellence. The planning board imposed a condition that the developer should fund and install improved lighting on approaches to the stadium.
After an appeal against the condition by the Cork GAA board, the planning appeals authority substituted it with a condition that the board should make a special contribution towards improvements to street lighting along Monahan Road, Centre Park Road, the Old Railway Line and the Marina, with the sum to be agreed with the council.
An inspector with An Bord Pleanála said the longer hours with the expanded facilities at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, especially after dark, made an upgrading of lighting “an immediate necessity”.
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The Old Railway Line and parts of the Marina are still unlit.
The GAA body claimed that €60,000 would be the appropriate amount to pay for the improvements, but in 2014 the council has estimated the cost at €750,000. Since then, the council estimated the GAA’s contribution should be between €786,000 and €860,000, while the board continued to offer just €60,000.
The council claims that approximately half the costs of improvements to public lighting should be borne by the stadium’s owners. Records show the council was originally concerned about public lighting in the area after a Bruce Springsteen concert at the stadium in July 2013.
Concern was also raised about the inadequacy of street lighting at a concert in Páirc Uí Chaoimh by Ed Sheeran in May 2018 when the concert promoter installed multiple lighting towers to ensure the safety of concert-goers. Gardaí also raised concerns about the lighting on a link road to the stadium at the time.
The Cork GAA board claims that an agreement between the parties was reached in May 2014 on how to calculate the amount but it had been broken when the council sought to add an extra two kilometres of roadway in May 2016.
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The board said the council failed to recognise that other people in the area and not just those going to the stadium would also benefit from the improved lighting. It claimed the promoters of other developments in the South Docklands area had not been asked to make a similar special contribution. Cork city council said its estimates were “not excessive or unreasonable but rational and proportionate”.
An inspector with An Bord Pleanála said the council’s claim that the GAA board should bear 48 per cent of the costs was reasonable given the concern about night-time concerts at the stadium.
However, he said costs incurred by the council to date should be excluded from calculation of the amount. An Bord Pleanála fixed the sum to be paid by the Cork county GAA board at €307,823.