Tipperary chairman says funding snub for two projects was 'borderline an insult'

Tipperary chairman Jimmy Minogue has described the Government’s decision not to issue sports capital funding to two projects in the county as “borderline an insult”.

FBD Semple Stadium as well as a TUS Thurles sports facility in which Tipperary GAA are stakeholders were absent from the 35-strong list of successful sports capital project applications, which will receive record Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Funding (LSSIF) of €137 million.

Including municipal initiatives such as Breffni Park which will be given €19m and €4.6m that will go towards Cuala’s plans to share a clubhouse with Dalkey United in Dublin, GAA units received almost half of the total funding.

However, unlike other Munster projects like the reconstruction of Fitzgerald Stadium’s west terrace in Killarney (€6m), the completion of Clare GAA’s centre of excellence in Caherlohan (€3.2m) and €650,000 for pitch facilities in Patrickswell GAA club in Co Limerick, the famous Thurles venue was not among them.

Earlier this year, Tipperary GAA made an application for funding towards redeveloping the stadium’s Kinane Stand. They had also come together with Tennis Ireland seeking financial assistance for the multi-sport complex at TUS Thurles.

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The LSSIF announcement by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media on Monday came as a hammer blow to Tipperary officials.

“Great disappointment and utter devastation would be my own personal view,” said Minogue. “There was a big development planned for TUS college in Thurles and no funding came for that or the stadium.

“The stadium needs a lot of work to bring it into the modern world, if you like. I felt to give nothing was borderline an insult. It’s the home of hurling, the town in which the GAA was founded and we were totally overlooked for some reason.”

Semple Stadium was reopened in 2009 following completion of work in the Ryan Stand and terraces. Since then, every other county stadium in Munster other than TUS Gaelic Grounds has been redeveloped to some extent.

In 2020, Tipperary revealed plans to refurbish the stadium’s older Kinane stand. Estimated to cost around €10m, planning permission had been granted up until 2025 to install corporate facilities on a second tier and a gym as well as other amenities.

However, they were shelved following the pandemic. In 2021, then county secretary Tim Floyd admitted: “The FBD Semple Stadium Kinane Stand project is currently in cold storage until large-scale infrastructural funding becomes available from our own Central Council and Government departments.”

In January, Munster GAA chief executive Kieran Leddy revealed in his annual report that Semple Stadium required a €4m investment for works “that are mainly maintenance in nature and will add nothing in terms of spectator or player facilities".

“This is an extraordinary cost that would take the ground 24 years to earn from Munster Hurling Final field rent," he added.

"This is a huge investment that is required just to keep the facility ticking over. The larger grounds are increasingly becoming a major drain on the resources of the Association.”

Along with TUS, Thurles Tennis Club, Tennis Ireland and Munster Tennis, Tipperary GAA had requested State support towards a centre, which is to comprise two floodlight sand carpet pitches, an astroturf GAA-sized pitch, two viewing stands, dressing rooms and an international standard indoor clay-court tennis facility.

Approval had been by given by the Tipperary County Council with the design completed. Despite the county boasting approximately twice the population of Cavan, the Breffni partnership between the GAA and other sports such as basketball and hockey in Cavan town was a successful municipal project.

“We put a lot of work into it with the TUS project with the LGFA, the Camogie Association and Tennis Ireland,” said Tipperary GAA secretary Murtagh Brennan.

“It is something that will benefit a lot of people. We are disappointed and feel a small bit let down but we’ll dust ourselves down and assess the situation.”

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