Vital meeting for Tailteann next Monday night

Meath GAA Co Board must wait until Thursday 1st March for the all-clear on the planning permission for the Pairc Tailteann redevelopment.

However, there will be plenty of activity ahead of that 1st March deadline with a meeting this week to kick-start the project.

The Co Board announced ambitious plans in April last year for a proposed €9 million redevelopment of Páirc Tailteann into a 21,000-seater stadium.

To get the project off the ground, the Co Board sought support from clubs to finance the initial estimated €300,000 cost of preparing detailed plans with the application submitted last December.

At last Monday night's Co Board meeting chairman Peter O'Halloran outlined the next steps in the process when he informed delegates that planning permission had been granted last Thursday.

This week Meath Co Board management committee will convene to discuss plans for financing the project.

Then there will be a meeting with club officials next Monday 12th February at Dunganny, 8.45pm where any concerns in relation to club contributions will be addressed.

Skryne delegate Oliver Harrington outlined some concerns on behalf of his club at Monday night's meeting, but suggested that there would be widespread support for the Páirc project.

“Everyone needs to be on board to make this a success, every club is stretched for finance at the moment, but will want to support the project,” he stated.

The Co Board chairman pledged that the management committee will not dictate to the clubs and that there would be a good discussion at next Monday night's meeting.

“We have to wait four more weeks for formal permission and the project can advance in phases, it's great to see the general support for the redevelopment and the fact that there were no objections,” stated O'Halloran.

“Credit for that aspect has to go to the members of the infrastructure committee, Noel Dempsey and Liam Mulvihill and our own operations manager Seamus Kenny.

“I also want to acknowledge the contributions of our former chairman Conor Tormey, former secretary Francis Flynn and treasurer Jim Mullery for their contributions over the last 18 months to get the project to this stage.

“The new Sports Regional Infrastructure Fund could provide a major boost for this project and the fact that we now have planning permission is also a bonus.

“I know there is strong support for the development across the county and also amongst our clubs.

“I am also aware that our clubs have carried out great work to develop their own facilities and that process must be allowed to continue, we need to be fair to the clubs while we are engaged in this redevelopment.

“We have to move this project forward together, the Co Board and the clubs, we developed Dunganny successfully and we can do the same with Páirc Tailteann

“The bulk of the funding will not come from the clubs and I want to make that clear.

“The planning permission is the first step and I have no doubt that we can succeed, when Meath people decide that they want to do something, it usually gets done,” he concluded.