Croke Park gates open only for 2008

Gaelic Games:The GAA formally agreed to lease Croke Park for next year's competitive rugby and soccer internationals at a Central Council meeting on Saturday.

The decision had been expected, but its announcement reiterated that should the Lansdowne Road redevelopment lose the current appeal against its planning permission as granted by Dublin City Council, or be handed a set of conditions that make the project unfeasible, the matter will have to be revisited at a future congress.

There was, however, some unhappiness expressed by delegates concerning the refusal of public projects in Tallaght and in Lansdowne Road to include facilities for Gaelic games in their development plans.

The question of friendly internationals in both sports wasn't considered, and the matter is unlikely to arise until next year when the New Zealand rugby team are expected to visit in the autumn of 2008.

It was also re-emphasised that the accommodation applied to Croke Park and no other GAA grounds. This is believed to be in response to the many calls made on the association to open other venues when it appeared as if Munster and Leinster would be securing home matches in the knockout stages of the European Cup.

In a busy afternoon for Central Council, last week's controversial letter from the Tyrone County Board calling on the GAA to abandon talks with the GPA on recognition of the players' union didn't cause the consternation some had expected.

GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell simply expressed himself happy with the progress of the talks, whereas Tyrone delegate Brendan Harkin said that he wanted clarification on the player welfare issues alleged to have arisen between county players and the Tyrone board.

On the issue of UCD's participation in the Dublin championships, Central Council reiterated the views of GAA director general Liam Mulvihill, who had cautioned against any action being taken on the matter at a recent county board meeting.

It was decided that the matter was a national issue and before this year's congress, and thus not appropriate for resolution on a county-by-county basis.