The GAA and Dublin City Council have agreed an ambitious plan which will revive the Sackville Avenue area leading to the ground and create a new National Handball and Community Centre.
The existing Croke Villas beside the Canal will be demolished and make way for new housing, and a new entrance to Croke Park to take pressure off other local streets as well as the new Handball facility.
The project will require planning permission and other approvals, to be sought in the near future. It will be the largest construction and development project in the area since the redevelopment of the stadium itself.
The new Centre will be managed by a partnership arrangement between the GAA and the local community and handball centre members.
This had proven a lengthy negotiation process with former Taoiseach and one time local TD Bertie Ahern chairing the mediation.
“I am very pleased to have played a role in clearing the way for the renewal of a part of Ballybough that desperately needs it and in adding an important new mechanism for the GAA and the local community to work together”.
Until the new Centre replaces the existing facility beside Hill 16, arrangements have been agreed for the GAA to participate in the management of the existing premises. This has previously been a major bone of contention.
The All-Ireland 60 x 30 finals and semi-finals for 2016 will take place in the existing facility this September and October and until the new Centre is built.
“The GAA sees the arrangements agreed with Dublin City Council and the local handball community as an opportunity for the GAA to make a further major contribution to the improvement and renewal of the area surrounding Croke Park,” said GAA President Aogán Ó Fearghail.
“We look forward to working closely with the local community in the new partnership arrangements”.
