Relations between the church and a minis rugby club in south Dublin have soured further as the club has had access to its playing field withdrawn just as its players are returning to training for the new season.
St Brigid’s RFC is in dispute with Foxrock parish over plans by the latter to sell the playing fields to Geraldines P Moran GAA club with whom it shares the facilities. The parish manages the site on behalf of a Dublin diocesan trust.
Geraldines P Moran has told its members in advance of a special general meeting later this month that it is paying €1 million for the five-acre site in Cornelscourt which, were it zoned for housing, has been “conservatively” valued at €10.5 million.
However, the rugby club has queried the sale process on the back of legal advice that it cannot proceed as currently framed.
“We have repeatedly asked the rugby club to set out any legitimate concerns that they have regarding their future usage rights so that these can be addressed in a legally binding manner,” the parish said in a statement. “Unfortunately, they have failed to do so and have instead decided to challenge the parish’s ownership of the field. As a result, we have been left with no alternative but to terminate the rugby club’s right to use the parish field.
“This decision is highly regrettable and has not been taken lightly,” it said. “In doing so, we have made it clear to the rugby club that we are eager to meet them to address legitimate concerns so that their access to the parish field can be quickly reinstated.”
Rugby club officials have taken issue with the statement. They insist, and stated publicly at a meeting earlier this week, that they are not claiming to own the field but rather challenging how it is being sold.
They also note that termination of access is a formal process requiring, among other things, certain notice periods that the club says it has not received.
Some of the children using the pitches – who are aged from six to 12 – have already started training there and the rest are due to return to training this week or next. The club has no other grounds.
Core to the dispute is the continued right of access to the pitches on existing terms for the duration of the 999-year lease being offered to the GAA club by the church.
In a side agreement between the church and the GAA club, drawn up as part of the intended sale, the GAA club agrees to permit 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 subsequent conditions appear to undermine that commitment.
A separate letter between the church and the rugby club states, inter alia, that St Brigid’s “acknowledges that any right to the future use of it for sporting purposes will be subject ... to the consent of, and agreement with, the GAA club”. This, they say, falls far short of an unequivocal future right of access on existing terms and conditions.
While the parish says in its statement that it has “repeatedly asked the rugby club to set out any legitimate concerns” so that they can be addressed, St Brigid’s says this has been on condition that its officers sign the letter making their future access subject to the GAA club’s consent. Club officials say they have been legally advised not to sign the letter making that commitment.
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