Castlebar MD has agreed to sit down with members of the New Castlebar Track (NCT ) group to explore the possibility of a joint venture between it and ATU Mayo to develop the running track at St Mary's to an international standard 8-lane amenity - in a follow-up to a lengthy presentation on the project made by NCT in January.
However, at their meeting this week, concerns were raised by Castlebar councillors about funding such a facility, as the land is owned by the University and not the council, with some members stating that unrestricted community access would have to be guaranteed in writing by ATU, before any funds could pass hands.
Discussion on the topic grew quite heated after it was raised as a 'matter arising' from the minutes of the previous meeting, by Cllr Ger Deere, (as opposed to being officially on the Agenda ), who noted two representatives of the NCT group and Castlebar Athletic Club, Brian Healy and Tony Hegarty, were in the gallery - and stated: "The train is leaving the station on this one and we need to decide are we going to get actively involved or not. We need to be associated with this; if not, we will have no say in the community use of it. We all want the proposed Knockaphunta development but that is way down the road. Meanwhile, hundreds of youngsters are up there at St Mary's track every weekend and it is not fit for purpose. We owe it to the young people of Castlebar to get involved in this as a joint venture."
Cathaorleach Cllr Michael Kilcoyne said certain terms and conditions and terms of reference would be needed for such an agreement, adding: "Also, where do we get €150,000. There is no point in this without us having money
Cllr Cyril Burke remarked: "To participate in joint venture discussions is all that is being asked. That’s not going to cost anything."
Cllr Kilcoyne: "There is no point in us misleading these people if we have no money."
Cllr Burke: "Sure we're not going to know if we're not having the discussions. This sounds like a blank 'no' from you. They don’t have any money either but are willing to raise resources from their own efforts. It is a great project for the town. There are lots of people up at the running track every evening and there is no reason why we should not develop it. I second Cllr Deere's proposal. I don’t see why it can’t be us and ATU and the club and I hope a member of the executive will attend a meeting on our behalf and I ask that they attend."
Cllr Kilcoyne: "We need to talk to the chief executive to establish exactly regarding funding because there is none available."
Cllr Blackie Gavin: "Who owns the ground? It's the ATU and if they want to go ahead with a development, good luck with that, but I propose this council visit the Claremorris track, a community state-of-the-art facility. In fact I think for our MD, what we should be looking for, with our weather conditions, would be to build an indoor track to international standards."
Cllr Martin McLaughlin: "Castlebar Athletic Club in their presentation to us had all the standards and costs laid out. There is an immediacy element to this as the other development could be 20 years down the line. If it was done tomorrow it wouldn’t be too son. There is huge demand for it."
Cllr Donna Sheridan said the new track was a 'great idea', "but my concern is we don’t own the site and when spending public money, we want to be sure there is unrestricted access for the community. We have not had that assurance yet."
Following further debate, with Cllr Al McDonnell asserting the matter was not properly before the meeting, the Cathaoirleach called for direction from Director of Services John Condon, who stated: "Anything involving committing of resources by the council would really need to be on the agenda. The other thing is the actual issue itself. We were all at the presentation and there was a fair bit of support for the project. We were asked for 150k. We don’t have it. That does not mean we could not get it. So it would be a finite contribution, but the most important thing we would need if it is to succeed, is an agreement between the club and university, because it is a development on university lands, so technically it is university owned.
"I don’t see why those agreements are not available to us. I don’t think the MD wants to go managing a facility like this. I think it should be managed much more by the club and any funding we would give could be conditional on community access being unrestricted; we have seen in other cases around the county where things have happened at clubs; we had our own experience on the Climbing Wall. So if it is a motion, it should be on the agenda, but I don’t see why talks can’t take place; however, we can’t decide today on money or otherwise."
Cllr Cyril Burke said: "I welcome the interjection from John, it made a lot of sense and it's encouraging. In light of this, could I request that at the next meeting between ATU and Castlebar and the club that someone from the local authority executive might attend. We are talking in an exploratory sense, and that we keep it on the agenda."
John Condon agreed, saying "I think we can arrange that", to which Cllr Ger Deere remarked: "That is exactly all that we wanted."
