GAA lands fail to sell at auction

GAA-owned lands near Athenry – purchased twelve years ago for a whopping €2.8 million – failed to sell at auction.

The 103-acre property was earmarked for a major training facility for the GAA in County Galway but these plans fell through as the authority simply did not have the funds to embark on such a centre of excellence.

It was a case of ‘cutting their losses’ as far as the GAA in Galway were concerned and they decided to put the lands at Mountain South, Athenry up for auction.

Over 40 interested parties and onlookers turned up for the auction in the Raheen Woods Hotel which was conducted by Athenry-based auctioneer Cathal Moran, himself an accomplished hurler for his club.

When the auction was convened in the hotel, those in attendance were informed that there was an AMV (Advised Minimum Value) of €750,000 on the property.

However, the auction attracted just a single bid of half a million euros from a particular farmer in attendance, believed to be from the North Galway area – and despite encouragement from Mr Moran, there were no other bids forthcoming.

The property was then withdrawn from the auction and will now be sold by private treaty. The auctioneer said that there were a number of inquiries about the extensive lands in the immediate aftermath of the auction.

“And even since then there has been a considerable interest in the lands and we are quietly confident that we could have a sale in the next couple of weeks. It is being sold in one lot because of the configuration of the lands,” Cathal Moran explained.

He said that the interest is mainly from farming and business interests and he expressed confidence that the asking price will be achieved.

However, it is a considerably long way short of what Galway GAA paid for the property way back in 2006 near the height of the Celtic Tiger boom when they forked out €2.8 million along with a further €535,000 for servicing the loan and drawing up a planning application for the site.

The agricultural lands are situated two miles from Athenry on the Craughwell road having close proximity to the M6 Galway-Dublin motorway and the M6/M17/M18 interchange at Rathmorrissey and are contained in one lot.

According to the auctioneers, the property is comprised in various large fields with internal field divisions and with water laid on throughout.

The property is a non-residential farm and the Esker River flows through it on the Athenry side.

The lands, they said, would be considered good quality limestone lands which have been reclaimed over the years and are dry. They have been grazed with sheep and cattle over recent years.