Church agrees to dialogue with rugby club in Foxrock playing fields row

Members of the GAA club at the centre of a row over the million-euro purchase of playing fields in south Dublin have overwhelmingly backed the proposed deal.
The comprehensive backing comes as the church, which owns the land, and a rugby club that was disputing the sale, finally agreed to sit down and resolve concerns about the arrangement.
Foxrock Parish, acting on behalf of a diocesan trust that owns the five-acre playing fields beside Dunnes Stores in Cornelscourt, proposed selling the fields that are badly in need of investment to upgrade facilities, to local GAA club, Geraldines P Moran earlier in the summer.
[ Legal doubt over intended €1m sale of Foxrock playing fields to GAA clubOpens in new window ]
As part of the agreement between the church and the GAA club, Geraldines had agreed to allow other users of the fields continued access “in the same manner as has taken place to date in accordance with the extent of their use to date”. However other conditions in the contracts and related documents appeared to undermine that commitment.
Geraldines P Moran have used the playing fields since they were acquired by the church in 1959. It has been the home ground of St Brigid’s Rugby Club since the late 1970s or early 1980s. Local national schools also use the facilities.
Lawyers for the church and St Brigid’s RFC had been engaged in increasingly combative exchanges over the structure of the planned sale and, indeed, the legality of the deal at all.
[ Foxrock church accuses rugby club of undermining sale of land to GAA clubOpens in new window ]
That led to the church terminating access to the grounds by the rugby club last week just as its players – all of whom are aged under 13 – were returning to training for the new season.
The church has failed to respond to a series of questions put to the parish late last week, as has the GAA club.
At the heart of the rugby club’s concerns are restrictions on the use of GAA property under rule 5.1 of the association. It says GAA-controlled facilities can be used only for the playing of games “controlled by the association” which specifically precludes rugby, unless such use is specifically sanctioned by the GAA Central Council and then only in “exceptional circumstances”.
However, following a special general meeting of Geraldines this week, at which members comprehensively backed the purchase of the playing fields, it has emerged that members of the parish finance council and St Brigid’s RFC finally agreed to dialogue on any issues with the proposed sale, with both sides sitting down together on Wednesday.
[ Foxrock rugby club accuses GAA of ‘land grab’ after sale of local playing fieldOpens in new window ]
Assuming the church is able to reassure the rugby club, the deal is due to close towards the end of the first week in September, although that date may yet have to be put back.
Dunnes Stores has been known for many years to be interested in purchasing the site – conservatively valued at €10.5 million if zoned for housing – as it looks to expand its landmark outlet on the main Dublin-Wexford N11. Dunnes sold a nearby site of equal size, which had been seen as a possible alternative for playing fields, for €32 million in 2018.