Joe Leogue joined Saturday's Off the Ball to shed some light on the timeline of events which has seen the GAA embroiled in controversy over their refusal to allow the Liam Miller tribute match to take part in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
The organisation has witnessed a backlash on their decision to decline to offer the venue for use and speaking to Nathan, Leogue said: "There have been rumours in the background over the last month that the organising committee had made approaches to try and use Páirc Uí Chaoimh but nothing concrete came of that and it wasn't until the match was officially launched on Wednesday in Cork City Hall by the Lord Mayor of Cork along with Roy Keane, Michael O'Flynn - who is a developer and the chairman of the organising committee and is a family friend of the Millers - and Cork City manager John Caulfield was there as well.
"And, it was in his opening remarks that the Lord Mayor made that he mentioned he expected the tickets for the event to fly out the door, as they did, and he mentioned in passing that it was a pity they couldn't hold it in a larger venue and that an attempt to use Páirc Uí Chaoimh was unsuccessful and it was during the 'Questions and Answers' session that I asked could he elaborate on that.
"And, as the details are known now, the approach was made and the Cork County Board were receptive but ultimately the rules as they stand by the GAA blocked it from happening."
The match is currently slated for Turners Cross which only has a capacity of 7,000 compared to the 41,000 which the GAA ground can hold. However, Páirc Uí Chaoimh received €30 million in public money for its recent redevelopment and there were certain terms attached to the funding about the use of the ground.
"It was in yesterday's Examiner that a barrister by the name of Tim O'Connor, who takes an interest in sports law, wrote a piece for us in which he looked at the conditions that were attached to that €30 million of funding and questioned whether that under the conditions that whether such events could be refused on the basis on the sport that's being played potentially," Leogue continued.
"He pointed to a European Commission decision back in 2016 and I suppose to briefly go through the timeline - it was in 2014 that the Government first announced its intention to award the €30 million to Páirc Uí Chaoimh but after that the European Commission expressed a slight concern it could amount to illegal state aid and procedures had to go through to satisfy Europe and in 2016, Europe issued an 11 page decision in which it said it gave it the all-clear.
"But, there were conditions attached to that and under 'Users of the Stadium' it says quote 'It could be rented out to other field sports' and then under the 'terms and conditions' section it says 'The stadium will be open to various users on a non-discriminatory and transparent basis' - there's more to it than that but those are the two key points that Mr. O'Connor highlighted in his piece for us, kind of, questioning whether the terms of the money, the public money, have been broken by this decision."
However, there was some movement from the GAA on Saturday morning as they are willing to meet with the organisers of the Liam Miller charity match and we await further developments:
The GAA President and Ard Stiúrthóir, along with representatives of the Cork Committee, are to seek a meeting with the organising committee of the Liam Miller Tribute Match to discuss issues around the game.
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 21, 2018
