This article is from page 36 of the 2008-09-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
ENNIS councillor Frankie Neylon says he has received countywide sup- port ahead of a public meeting on the future of Cusack Park, to be held in Ennis tomorrow night.
Councillor Neylon said the meeting, which takes place at 8.30pm in the West County hotel, was organised to address “growing concern” about the ownership of Cusack Park.
Cllr Neylon (Ind) says the title deeds for the grounds are in the name of the people of Ennis and not the County Board.
A letter written in 1935 by the En- nis Dalcassians Club states that the club “acquired” the grounds. The let- ter also states that the “grounds be-
long to the people of Ennis”’.
The councillor says he is also aware of other documents that further strengthen his assertion that when the Eire Og club left Cusack Park in 1959, the maintenance deeds were transferred to the County Board.
‘They never transferred the owner- ship to the County Board, it was just the maintenance” said Cllr Neylon.
Cllr Neylon refused to rule out the possibility of taking legal action, if the ownership issue was not re- solved.
“I have been getting calls from people around Clare. I’d say around 80 per cent of them are big GAA supporters. They see Cusack Park as the home of Michael Cusack and the GAA in Clare. It’s a case of re-
minding the County Board that Cu- sack Park is owned by the people. We want to get that in writing. If we don’t get that, we might have look at other options like going down the le- gal route.”
Cllr Neylon continued, “There are other letters in existance and I know there are other documents, legal documents, that prove that Cusack Park does not belong to the County Board.”
Last December the Aisling Chiosoig partnership offered to purchase Cu- sack Park (10 Acres) for €84.4M.
The proposed deal would see Clare GAA purchase a new site on the Quin Road. Aisling Chiosoig would prepare the site up to foundation lev- el, cover planning and legal costs and
any unforeseen expenses that accrue from the proposed deal.
The sale however is subject to the re-zoning of Cusack Park for re-de- velopment purposes and planning approval for the Quin Road site.
Cllr Neylon said, “This isn’t about opposing the re-zoning. The issue of ownership has raised its head again. There is a growing concern out there. Brendan Vaughan, when he was chairman of the County Board tried to purchase the deeds for the board, and he wasn’t successful. But he did acquire the deeds of behalf of the people of Ennis.
“Tm not worried if we get six or 600 people at the meeting, its about straightening out the ownership is- sue’, said Clir Neylon.