THE WAY IS now clear for the debt-laden Cork County GAA Board to lodge ‘fast track’ plans to An Bord Pleanála for 309 residential units planned for Cork GAA lands.

This follows the Cork County Board completing a nine-week long pre-planning consultation with the appeals board that also involved input from Cork City Council planners.

The Cork County Board is proposing the construction of 197 houses, 112 apartments, a creche and associated works for Cork GAA Lands, Old Whitechurch Road, Kilbarry, Cork city.

In the ‘opinion’ provided to the Cork County Board on the scheme, An Bord Pleanála has told the board that their Strategic Housing Development (SHD) plans require further consideration or amendment.

CEO of the Cork County Board, Kevin O’Donovan said today: “There is a planning process in train with Cork City Council and An Bord Pleanála in relation to this matter and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

It is now open to the Cork County Board to take into account the views expressed by An Bord Pleanála before lodging an SHD application direct to ABP under government fast-track planning rules.

If and when the county board secures planning permission for the residential scheme, it will greatly enhance the value of the site for any sale to a developer.

The sale – along with income to be generated from Ed Sheeran’s two Páirc Uí Chaoimh dates in April – is expected to go some way towards addressing the Cork County Board’s debt.

The most recent accounts for Cork GAA County Board show the Páirc Uí Chaoimh stadium debt stood at €29.74 million at the end of last September.

The accounts show that €21.8 million of the total is owed to Bank of Ireland with loan terms extended until 2028. Annual repayments of €750,000 to €1.1 million are to be paid over that period with the remaining loan to be revisited in seven years’ time.

Croke Park is owed €7.929 million and Cork GAA is committed to making repayments of €500,000 per annum.

In a separate SHD development for Cork, the appeals board has told Hibernia Star Ltd that its plans for 498 apartments for Jacob’s Island, Ballinure, Mahon, Co Cork also require further consideration or amendment.

Hibernia Star Ltd is 50% owned by McCarthy Developments (Cork) Ltd.

In a Dublin SHD case, the appeals board has told The Arden Team DAC that their planned 620 residential unit scheme for ‘The Foothills’ in the townlands of Killinarden and Kiltalown, Tallaght, Dublin 24 also requires further consideration or amendment.