Plans for improvements at TEG Cusack Park outlined

Westmeath GAA head of operations broke down the finer details of proposed works at TEG Cusack Park, Mullingar at last Thursday night’s meeting of Westmeath GAA’s county committee, held online via the Microsoft Teams platform.

Mr Doherty said that county board officials have spent the last number of months “gathering information” and computing figures for works which, it is felt, are necessary for Westmeath GAA’s headquarters.

He outlined, in no order of importance, five categories of work required at the ground – healthy and safety upgrades, minor works, stand enhancement, the installation of ball-stop nets and upgrades to the dressing rooms.

Under the health and safety category, Mr Doherty said that the wall behind the goals at the Dunnes Stores end is “coming away from the terrace” and will need urgent work. The same is the case for a wall behind the main terrace adjacent to the Dunnes Stores car park.

“Our boundary wall at the back of the TEG Cusack Park into the back of Dunnes Stores car park also needs work in that there is pressure on it from our side, which is pushing the wall outwards into the car park,” said Mr Doherty. “We don’t think anything is imminent with those walls but equally we also recognise we need them repaired.”

Meanwhile, another wall along the banks of the Royal Canal, behind the scoreboard, is also in need of repairs rendered urgent by the frequent passage of traffic into Cusack Park at this location, e.g. TV trucks.

Repairs to these three walls has been costed in the region of €363,000.

The second category, “minor works”, involved the power washing of terraces, the stand and internal/external walls, and the painting of the external walls and the rear of the stand. The estimated cost of this work is €25,764.

Proposed stand enhancement work will involve the necessary replacement of the roof, and the replacement of existing seating. The cost of this work is expected to total €183,000.

Fourth, Mr Doherty said that most clubs would probably agree that the replacement of ball-stop nets is a “priority, in terms of the number of sliothars and footballs that are lost in TEG Cusack Park”. The nets are expected to cost €75,000.

Finally, extensive improvements are proposed for the dressing rooms (players and referees), showers and toilets, as well as a “revamp” of the corridor and tunnel areas. The latter is “primarily to eliminate or reduce the risk of a slip or a fall by putting in non-slip tiles or possibly astroturf in the tunnel,” Mr Doherty explained.

Work will also be carried out on perimeter fencing, the dugouts, ancillary rooms and the disabled viewing area, while plans are also afoot to audit TEG Cusack Park for efficiency in heating, lighting and pitch irrigation. The costs under this fifth category would run to over €500,000.

All added together, the total cost of the proposed works at Cusack Park would amount to over €1.168 million.

“The critical side of that, if that’s the route we’re going down, is where the finance is going to come from,” Mr Doherty added, before outlining how it is proposed to foot the bill.

In excess of €57,000 in cash was ringfenced in cash for the Cusack Park fund at the 2019 Westmeath GAA convention. Half of the funds from the recent Lake County Movathon initiative are to go towards the development, which at the time of press had raised a total of €140,000 (€70k for Cusack Park).

“We have been granted by LEADER €127,000, and that is 50 percent of the cost of the stand enhancement and ball-stop nets that we talked about already. So we have in the locker 50 percent funding for those parts of the project,” Mr Doherty.

“We have also been granted €2,500 by Westmeath County Council, and that’s the maximum shop front grant available from the council. And the reason we qualify for that is that Westmeath GAA is a ratepayer and we have a front on the street.

“So that gives us basically €254,000 in cash available to us for the possibility of work in TEG Cusack Park. The question mark is where is the rest of it going to come from, if we go down the route of endeavouring to carry out the work that’s standing us at €1.168m.

“The first thing is that we have applied, through the sports capital programme, for grant funding. We have applied for that on the dressing rooms and ancillary works, such as toilets, fencing, the referees’ room, dugouts, the disabled viewing area, the tunnel and the corridors.

“The total cost that we’ve put forward for that is €488,000. The maximum grant for a regional project is €300,000. The last sports capital programme in 2018 or 2019, the maximum regional pay-out was €300,000, but the maximum actually paid out was €225,000.

“So I would be cautioning management and the meeting that even if we are successful with an application under the sports capital programme, we are unlikely to get €300,000. €200,000 is a more likely sort of round figure. But we’re in for it, and we’re battling anyway.”

The meeting heard that under the Slattery Health and Safety Report some years back, Westmeath GAA was granted in the region of €56,000 in Central Council funding, all of which hasn’t been drawn down yet. The county board will seek to draw down a remaining €22,000 or so for some of the more urgent health and safety work, particularly on the reinforcement of boundary walls.

Furthermore, an approach will be made to Leinster Council for funding, and Croke Park again, though Mr Doherty counselled that Central Council had a “considerable loss” last year due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

“At least if we’re in there, and in two or three years time when Central Council is in a position to open the purse strings again, maybe we’ll be there at the head of the queue,” he added.

Borrowing to finance the project, clubs were told, would involve a considerable outlay, and delegates were also advised that the sports capital programme process will take time.

Frank Mescall, county board chairman, said that work on installing ball-stop nets and replacing certain seating in the stand will comprise Phase 1 of the development and will get under way as soon as Covid restrictions allow.

Niall O’Brien, Westmeath coaching officer, said that the figures involved “might scare people” but complimented Mr Doherty on laying out what needs to be done and presenting a “starting point”. He said that the work would increase the chance of important fixtures involving teams from outside the county being played at Cusack Park in the future, benefiting local businesses.

“We have to be ambitious, and if the last month has shown us anything, we can be ambitious when we put our minds to it,” said Mr O’Brien.

Ballycomoyle’s Aidan Keogh asked what the current status is with the dugouts with regard to their use and suitability.

“The dugouts here are not used for subs. Physios, medical people and selectors would sometimes use them, so it’s important that they have seating available,” said Mr Doherty.

“Are they safe? They are more than the required distance from the edge of the pitch, so from a safety point of view, they’re not an issue.”