CRATLOE GAA have lodged plans for a new playing pitch, 100m running track and over 100 parking spaces at their grounds with Clare County Council.
The 2014 Senior Double winners stated in their application that “Current infrastructure is severely bottlenecked by a major imbalance between participant volume and available pitch space”, justifying the proposed development.
Limerick Architecture firm Arnold Leahy Architects made the application to the local authority and gave further background “Cratloe GAA Club currently operates with just one main playing pitch and one small underage pitch. This limited capacity must serve an active player population of over 500 people across all age grades. In total, the club fields 5 adult teams and 20 underage teams. To add to the pressure, these grounds are shared equally between Cratloe GAA Club, the LGFA, and Cratloe Camogie Club, which itself has over 150 players”.
This overcrowding has caused “severe turf wear, waterlogging, and safety hazards due to overuse”, leading to heavily restricted training slots and capping participation which prevents the club from expanding its underage academies.
To resolve these issues, the 2023 Jack Daly winners are proposing to “construct a second full-sized, high specification playing pitch which will instantly double the training and fixture capabilities for all 25-plus club teams”.
The site of the proposed development is currently occupied by a monocultural ash commercial forestry, first planted 20 years ago. Ash dieback has left many of the trees dead or dying, however.
Under the proposed plans, as many healthy trees as possible will be preserved, with the architects stating, “Once established these new areas will be maintained as a wildlife zone and, though smaller than the area of forestry to be removed, per unit area they will ultimately be of greater ecological value as they will be composed of diverse, native species”.
Despite this pledge, ecological concerns have the potential to threaten the proposed development. A Natura Impact Statement (NIS) carried out on the site “concluded that significant effects to the Lower River Shannon SAC and the River Shannon and River Fergus Estuaries SPA cannot be ruled out. Specifically, this may arise from the impact to freshwater, intertidal or subtidal habitats from pollution during the construction phase”. The NIS proposed mitigation of plans in order to address these concerns.
The Blue and White are aiming to work around this by engaging in sustainable construction practices, mainly addressing water concerns through their approach to concrete. A Construction Environmental Management plan included in the application advises that “The production, transport and placement of all cementitious materials will be strictly planned and supervised. Site batching/ production of concrete will not be carried out on site and therefore these aspects will not pose a risk to the water bodies present in the vicinity of the site”.
Cratloe GAA were granted tax exemption under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 as of April this year and finished at the semi-final and group stages of the 2025 Clare SFC and SHC’s respectively.
Clare County Council is due to make a decision on the development by the 11th of August. Submissions and objections from members of the public can be issued up until July 21st.
