THE GAA has come to an agreement in a long-running dispute with an Irish-backed company over the former home of Gaelic Games in London.
The Irish Post has learnt that solicitors acting on behalf of both parties settled on terms in recent days on a development site at New Eltham which could yield millions.
The deal follows an embarrassing row over the right to develop the 13-acre site in south-east London.
The Irish-backed company, Novalong, filed a £3.5million lawsuit against the trustees of New Eltham in August 2012 because they said the GAA were failing to cooperate. One of the trustees is the current director general Padraig Duffy.
The GAA are being represented by Michael Kennedy, who famously acts on behalf of Roy Keane.
This newspaper understands that confidentiality in relations to the terms of the deal was made a priority by the GAA.
In 2007, then Secretary of State Ruth Kelly rejected a planning proposal submitted by Novalong.
The company originally bought an “option” to develop the site in 2000/01 for £500,000, but previously told The Irish Post that they continually failed to get cooperation on the site since the planning rejection. But they maintained that the “option” remained “good” and late last year they applied to the High Court in London for Summary Judgement but the hearing was cancelled last week after an agreement was reached at the 11th hour.
Both Croke Park and Novalong declined the opportunity to comment on the agreement when contacted by The Irish Post.
