Inside Track: Louth must now regret not having heeded Croke Park warnings

It was reported that Mickey Harte would be part of the Louth County Board delegation heading for yet another meeting with Croke Park authorities over the county grounds on last Tuesday evening. The report was inaccurate.

But what a pity the county team manager wasn’t included in the travelling party, but, more important, in the team involved in negotiations with the GAA over the past year or so.

He certainly wouldn’t have been a party to vital information being withheld from clubs and also members of the Louth County Board’s most powerful committee, formerly known as the Executive but now the Management Committee, which is comprised of the Board’s officers and delegates to the GAA’s Central and Leinster Councils.

That wouldn’t be Harte’s style.

If he’s secretive it’s when he’s preparing a side for an important game.

Little is given away in interviews, and it’s no surprise when his line-outs don’t correspond with the programme.

In all other aspects he’s honest, honourable and helpful, and that applies to his life beyond football. These attributes would have been more than beneficial in the plotting and planning of the biggest undertaken the county has ever undertaken.

This is one episode that hasn’t had openness and transparency.

If it had had, the county wouldn’t have just put behind it a traumatic fortnight in which there were genuine fears a long-held dream of a county ground might not become a reality.

In a hectic number of days, County Board chairman, Peter Fitzpatrick, resigned before rescinding his decision; numerous Management Committee meetings were held, one in particular said to have been fractious; and the planned start of work on the project was cancelled.

But more crucial than anything else, Croke Park said in no uncertain terms this time that if its instructions not to go ahead with the project were not adhered to, there would be dire consequences for the county – said in reports to be the withdrawal of insurance cover for players (which, if it materialised would mean club football not being able to go ahead), and the closure of the county’s headquarters at the Darver Centre of Excellence.

Central to it all that’s been happening is finance.

The County Board has been saying for some time it would be able to raise €18 million, but needed a further €7 million from Croke Park to complete the project.

The original estimate for building the stadium was put at €12 million. This figure grew to €19 million by last December, and this year took a further hike of over 50%, bringing the cost to a whopping €29 million. The dropping of “bells and whistles” from the plans then brought the cost back to €25 million.

Never at any stage did Croke Park say there would be funding, but word at County Board meetings was that the authority wanted work to be delayed.

But in a letter sent to the Board at the beginning of June, Croke Park sought more than just a delay.

In its heading, the document says: “Re: Warning Against Proceeding with Proposed Signing of “Letter of Intent” with Construction Company and Clarification re Central Council Grant Support for your New Stadium Project”.

It then lays out conditions which had to be met, and finishes with: “Serious consideration be given by Louth GAA County Executive to a revised and phased approach to the stadium project delivery, working within the realistic current and future financial means of the county.”

The message was clear and unequivocal with its instruction: do not go ahead.

This letter was not circulated among all members of the Management Committee, nor referred to at the June meeting of the County Board.

Management members may have seen a second letter from Croke Park, dispatched at the beginning of this month.

And it may have arrived too late for delegates to discuss its content at the July meeting of the County Board, had it been read.

But the message was the same – do not go ahead with the work.

Yet, the Board, taking a cue from its chairman, was determined to push on with the start with the work, suggesting that a stadium could be built for €18 million – the sum it hoped to accrue from the controversial IIP fund, naming rights, Leinster Council grant (unlikely to come until Croke Park is satisfied that work can proceed), and stand seat and hoardings sales.

A further word or warning came from Croke Park the week before last, this one more explicit in its detail. But still there was a determination among some members of the management to continue with the launch.

There wasn’t, however, enough of them present at an emergency meeting on last Sunday week to sway the vote – the verdict was to heed Croke Park warnings and cancel plans for the following day.

Peter Fitzpatrick tendered his resignation on the Monday, but withdrew it 24 hours later. That evening he headed the delegation to the Croke Park meeting.

If there was noise at this gathering, it’s most unlikely to have come from the Louth side of the table.

The County Board is tight-lipped – at least to queries from this paper – over what happens next.

It’s only a guess, but it could be that the project will be scaled back, or opened in phases, or maybe both.