Páirc Uí Rinn sale suggestion firmly ruled out by county board

The sale of Páirc Uí Rinn as a way of reducing Cork County Board’s debt is not an option that will be explored.

With the debt relating to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh above the €30m mark, the county board have had to take measures to help service repayments, with a number of initiatives proposed at last month’s monthly board meeting.

Most of these relate to the generation of funds – in the region of €500,000 – that will ultimately be borne by the clubs of the county, while the meeting also heard that more favourable terms had been negotiated by the board with Croke Park regard to their loan.

During those discussions, it is believed that GAA officials raised the possibility of selling the county’s secondary stadium, Páirc Uí Rinn. However, county board secretary/CEO Kevin O’Donovan told the board meeting that such a move would not be countenanced.

Originally a soccer ground, known as Flower Lodge, the Ballintemple site was purchased by the county board in 1989 after Cork City were unable to secure a deal with the previous owners, the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Gaelic games were first played there in 1993 and since then the ground has held games at all levels from Sciath na Scol up to senior inter-county championship clashes as well as being used by county teams for training sessions.

In the Cork accounts for 2024, Páirc Uí Rinn was valued at €4.32m but, if the land were to zoned as residential, it could yield a greater figure in the event of a sale. Even if the board were amenable to such a move, there is no guarantee that such a zoning would be possible, though.

In a 2014 interview with the Irish Examiner, former board secretary Frank Murphy revealed that two bids had been lodged with the AOH. The lower bid gave the undertaking that sport would be retained at the venue – supposedly a sticking point in Cork City’s negotiations – and the higher one did not include such a stipulation. The lower bid was accepted, though the AOH may not have been aware of who was behind the moves.

“We had a meeting of the executive here on the Tuesday night and they were briefed on the decision,” he said.

“There was a board meeting at 8.30pm so before we informed them the property had been bought, we sent our groundsman, Tommy Lynch, with a letter to the secretary of the AOH to inform them that we were the new owners of Flower Lodge.

“And that was the first intimation they had who the new owners were.”