What is the story with this. It seems like yet another abject failure by the county board to co-ordinate the upkeep and maintenance of the most important piece of infrastructure in the county. How is this taking so long? One would imagine that losing high profile matches in the summer might spur them into action but its being let drag on and on. It's as if there is no interest in the facility whatsoever.

pim (Meath) - Posts: 119 - 12/08/2015 10:16:02    1768521

They should invest money into Building a stand around the pitch at Trim GAA. Everyone would benefit from this as its a great pitch. Navan is deteriorating by the year and I think the county board should sell up and invest in either Trim GAA or building a stadium in Dunganny. What do People think?

lordofthecrack (Meath) - Posts: 43 - 12/08/2015 10:54:47    1768594

Ok lads let's not use this as a vent against the County Board, the repairs required obviously are going to cost a lot of money, something we don't have in abundance especially with a €1.25 million loan for Dunganny to service. In fairness to this County Board they have been the most progressive in planning and executing infrastructural improvements for some time. PT needs major work we all know that and it's been discussed many times before but selling the place is a downright stupid notion. Neither Trim nor Dunganny would be acceptable as main grounds, Trim does not have the size or scope PT has for a 20'000 or so capacity stadium and Dunganny is designed as a training facility, however I do support the notion of Trim as second county ground and its continuing development in that regard.

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 12/08/2015 11:22:54    1768631

You'd imagine even if they did develop Trim, it still has only one narrow access point to the entire ground. The idea of fitting more than maybe 500 people in there on a match day is absolute fantasy.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1643 - 12/08/2015 15:06:22    1768869

Purchase the land behind scoreboard area down towards the OPW and you can use the two entrances. first being original . and second being the OPW entrance. that leads right up beside the pitch. and also there is baron Land un-cultivated, un-touched and un-developed that is serving no purpose that could be bought to create parking spaces. if you think about things logically and if you used the 1.2 million on developments such as this instead of a grubby old stadium that is a thorn in the side of the coin purse of Meath GAA in its entirety

lordofthecrack (Meath) - Posts: 43 - 12/08/2015 15:36:57    1768897

Purchase the land behind scoreboard area down towards the OPW and you can use the two entrances. first being original . and second being the OPW entrance. that leads right up beside the pitch. and also there is baron Land un-cultivated, un-touched and un-developed that is serving no purpose that could be bought to create parking spaces. if you think about things logically and if you used the 1.2 million on developments such as this instead of a grubby old stadium that is a thorn in the side of the coin purse of Meath GAA in its entirety

Why buy land when we have a big enough site at PT to develop, we need to use whatever money we can get to develop what we have not but more land, we have enough land in the assest book. Developing the two goal ends at PT to proper terracing with proper toilet facilities and access/egress points would make a huge difference there for a start, then look at expanding the covered seating accomodation. The County Board should really be kicking up a fuss to secure funding for its redevelopment, Leinster needs a fit for purpose stadium in the North of the province and PT fits the bill perfectly.

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 12/08/2015 16:10:57    1768928

I'd love for Trim to be developed into a smaller 2nd ground like Cork have with Páirc Uí Rinn or Kerry with Austin Stack Park, but Trim just doesnt have the space to be enlarged to a main stadium. There's about 5m of space between the town goal and the swimming pool for example.

Priorities dictate that Dunganny and Navan should be sorted out first.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1643 - 12/08/2015 16:41:25    1768959

Any update on this god I hope they go back upalways liked the NFL on a Saturday night

glenny (Meath) - Posts: 1108 - 09/09/2015 18:35:56    1785347

The word is these won't be going back up in the foreseeable future as the cost involved is too great. Beg the question as to how they were allowed to be erected unsafely in the first place.

SmallHouse (Meath) - Posts: 291 - 13/09/2015 09:06:31    1786500

Were they not covered under the park insurance. I would imagine they were.

latouche25 (Meath) - Posts: 520 - 14/09/2015 16:14:17    1787228

Reckon they be back up alright ready for Meath v dibs on u21 other than that we be Parnell park bound

Brownepat (Meath) - Posts: 532 - 31/10/2015 08:54:40    1803270

Congratulations to Oldcastle today, fairplay to them for overturning a 7point deficit against a strong Jenkinstown team today. Jenkinstown will feel awful sickened though for losing a game they were in total control of!

meathguy123 (Meath) - Posts: 16 - 31/10/2015 16:47:10    1803363

Castle bravo after dunganny they should develop ashbourne in that way, lights already in place and plenty of space maybe a bit out of the way in an estate but plenty of room to develop

srgt_slaughter (Meath) - Posts: 462 - 02/11/2015 15:33:28    1803769

I'd agree with that Sgt.Slaughter. Ashbourne is already a fine grounds. It wouldn't take too much more to develop it into a second smaller county venue. It would certainly be needed if they ever got around to renovating Pairc Tailteann. The last time Pairc Tailteann was closed for an extended period for renovations, the county games had to be played in Kells. With a little more work, Ashbourne would be able to hold the county games if PT had to be closed again. And when they do get around to doing up Pairc Tailteann, I hope that is what they do. Close it up completely, and do the job right. I would hate to see if just being patched up again - it needs far bigger work that that.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 02/11/2015 19:38:45    1803832

agree with castlebravo,trim the best pitch in meath but parking would be an issue,unless they turn one of the training pitches into a car park.

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1047 - 02/11/2015 20:23:24    1803855

From the article on the main pitch, it looks like the lights won't be going back up any time soon. It seems that we are waiting from a grant from Croke Park to get them back up again.

There are a few serious questions to be answered, that I'm not sure have even been asked yet. Presumably when these lights were originally erected, the county board paid a company to do it. Presumably this company had done this sort of work before, and had a suitable engineer involved to make sure that the work was done correctly. So in that case:
1. Were the lights put up in a safe manner, in line with all safety standards?
2. Were they certified by the company's engineers as having being erected properly?
3. If so, what has happened in the intervening period to make them unsafe. To the best of my knowledge, Pairc Taiteann is not built on any geological fault lines, so there should not have been any shifting in the ground from the time they were erected until now.
4. If something has happened in the intervening period to make them unsafe, could this have been foreseen and dealt with at the time they were put up?
5. If the light were not put up in accordance with known safety standards, or if something has since occurred which should have been foreseen at the time, is there no comeback against the company who erected them?
6. Is the company who erected the lights still in business, and have they been asked to comment as to what has happened, and why?

It just seems ridiculous that the county board paid a company to put up lights, a few years later they are deemed to be unsafe, and everyone seems to just accept this as if it is normal, and gets ready to fork out again to get them put back up.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 03/11/2015 11:44:00    1803969

Current CB are looking into getting a new stand, supposedly to be going to tender by mid next year. As for the lights, historically PT has been very badly managed, if you could even say it was managed at all. As for questions for the original contractor, I'd be amazed if they're still in business.
Don't know if the room is there for it, but I'd like to see a running track around the pitch. May be an option worth exploring from the point of view of development grants, sponsorship etc.

moylagh (Meath) - Posts: 484 - 03/11/2015 13:54:27    1804022

Absolute disgrace, first we lose u21 final now this shambles. Real shake up needed at co. board level IMO !! All league games to dunganny is it?

mclovin96 (Meath) - Posts: 40 - 03/11/2015 14:12:30    1804036

I think this is more down to the goalposts being moved by Health & Safety, what was accepted as safe ten years ago is not considered safe now. I'm not 100% sure how all this came to a head but I heard a slight sway was noticed in one of the pylons during a bit of wind earlier in the year leading to a full examination of all four pylons and the foundations didn't pass 2015 standards, the other reality is that barring a full force tornado hitting Navan they were never in any danger of falling but it seems that Health & Safety regulations have become a chore and a nuisance at this stage instead of ensuring a safe environment as is their supposed task. I can't put blame on the county board for this, they have put considerable expenditure into Dunganny and are now attempting to do the same with PT in terms of a new stand and terracing and this was an unexpected problem leading to possible unexpected expense. Leinster & Central Councils should forward immediate funding to rectify this problem and ensure we have floodlights for the start of the NFL.

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 03/11/2015 14:30:57    1804047

If that is the case Richie then fair enough. Can't blame the county board if Health and Safety have changed the rules. I guess then we can expect to see floodlights being taken down at every club and county ground around the country, as presumably they were all put up to the same H&S standards as the ones in Pairc Tailteann. Or are we the only ones that are now falling foul of new H%S standards?

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 03/11/2015 17:30:05    1804150