Ahern cites communication lapse in £60m GAA aid

The Taoiseach admitted to the Dail today there were "breakdowns in communications" over the proposed £60 million grant to the GAA for Croke Park.

Responding to angry Opposition questions Mr Ahern apologised for this and said the issue of other sports in Croke Park would be raised with the GAA.

In an earlier statement the GAA said lengthy talks in relation to £60 million funding for Croke Park had never involved the use of the stadium for other sports.

The sporting body said negotiations over a number of weeks had focused on holding the Special Olympics at Croke Park and an agreement by the GAA to play a programme of games in Stadium Ireland. The GAA claim they were given a "clear and firm commitment in regard to funding".

But Mr Ahern told the Dáil this afternoon: "The Government believes...where sporting facilities are funded by the taxpayers those facilities should be shared as widely as possible to the benefit of the whole community".

He told the house: "The legal discussions that will go on the offer of financial assistance to the GAA and the FAI will be pursued in that context".

This morning, Fine Gael called on the Taoiseach to "pause and rethink" the granting of £60 million to the GAA "in the light of what Mary Harney said yesterday".

Speaking in Donegal the Tánaiste Ms Harney said the grant promised by Mr Ahern was "still up for negotiation".

She said: "I don't think it makes sense that such a large sum of money would be given to an organisation on the basis that they would prevent others from using the facilities".

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, this afternoon reiterated comments by the party leader, saying the funding deal for the GAA had not come before cabinet and was not a "done deal".

She said expenditure of public money on this scale should be made conditional on certain terms - such as the wider use of the facilities in Croke Park.

She said: "The fact is this is a partnership government, not a single party government made up of Fianna Fáil".

On Saturday the GAA voted against allowing sports other than Gaelic Games to be played in Croke Park. On Friday night the GAA president Mr Seán McCague told the start of the organisation's annual congress the Government had committed to the grant.