The row over the payment of the lease on Bord na Móna O’Connor Park has escalated with the news that it is set to go to arbitration.
In a seven-page letter sent to Offaly’s other forty GAA clubs last week, Tullamore GAA said that it was “left with no other alternative but to immediately proceed with the arbitration process” after neither the intervention of Leinster Council nor Croke Park could resolve the impasse with Offaly GAA over rent arrears.
The county board signed a 35-year lease with Tullamore GAA – who own the ground – in 2002, but relations have soured to such an extent in the past twelve months that arbitration now appears inevitable.
Offaly GAA paid €42,183 of the €56,245 lease for 2020 and sought to write off €14,061 after Covid-19 decimated their gate receipts. A further €28,938, which includes a 2.9% CPI rent increase and covers the first six months of 2021, is due to be paid at the end of June, meaning Tullamore GAA are currently owed almost €48,000.
