For years, Páirc Tailteann has existed in two versions.
There was the Páirc Tailteann we knew, and the Páirc Tailteann we promised.
Now, for the first time, you can stand inside it and see the second one taking shape.
The machinery is well in. Most of the groundworks are complete. The project is out of the ground and, before the end of August, the first precast elements are expected to arrive on site.
It is no longer a set of drawings, plans and conversations.
It is concrete.
And after all the stops and starts, that feels significant.
“Things are going really well. Things are going great,” says Noel Dempsey, Chairperson of Páirc Tailteann CLG.
“We’re on schedule so far. We have most of the groundworks done. We’re out of the ground, which is always the most difficult part of a construction project.”
That last bit matters.
Anyone who has watched a major construction project knows that what happens underground is usually the least glamorous part and often the part with the biggest capacity for surprises.
So far, Páirc Tailteann has avoided the big ones.
The next six months should look rather different.
From the ground up
The new stand will run from corner flag to corner flag on the southern side of the ground, providing 5,000 seats and a completely new matchday experience.
Behind those seats will be a three-storey building containing dressing rooms, toilets and shop units.
Above that will be space for meetings and corporate events, while the top floor will house media facilities.
It is a considerable change from the Páirc Tailteann supporters know.
“It’ll be absolutely modern facility,” says Noel. “It’ll be the most modern in the country when it’s finished, and it’ll be something that we can all be proud of.”
And there is a new feature that might be less obvious on a set of plans but will be very obvious to the players.
There is a tunnel.
It will run from the new dressing rooms directly to the centre of the pitch, allowing players to move from the dressing room onto the playing surface without having to travel underneath the stand.
“The players will be able to move from the dressing room out onto the pitch unimpeded.”
It is a relatively small detail in a very large project, but it is one of the things that will make the finished stadium feel like a modern sporting venue rather than simply a new stand attached to an old one.
The pitch stays
There was one part of Páirc Tailteann that was never going to be sacrificed for the redevelopment.
The pitch.
Almost 40 years old, it has somehow remained one of the great constants of the ground and, according to a survey carried out by pitch experts, one of its best assets.
They were particularly impressed.
They did not realise it was 40 years old.
“We were very, very conscious of trying to maintain the top-quality surface that we have,” says Noel.
The original plans had called for a North Stand, partly because of the need to protect the playing surface.
But the long delay caused by COVID brought an unexpected change.
Construction methods had moved on and the new stand could be built from behind without encroaching on the pitch.
“The good thing about the delay was that once the delay was over, we knew we could build the stand here on the south side without encroaching on the pitch.”
And so the pitch stays exactly where it is.
Which, given how much Meath football and hurling has happened on it over the last four decades, is probably worth a little celebration in itself.
Saturday night in Navan
Then there are the lights.
Their return could change Páirc Tailteann as much as anything else.
For years, Navan has been without the buzz that comes with a Saturday night game, when a stadium fills in the evening and the town gets the benefit of the crowd before and after the final whistle.
That is coming back.
Noel points to figures from Clones and other venues which demonstrate the value of night games to the local economy.
“We have figures from Clones and various other places that show the value of Saturday night games,” he says.
The impact will not be confined to Meath matches either.
The new facility will have planning permission for concerts and other events, while Páirc Tailteann’s location makes it an attractive option for games involving counties from outside Meath.
Noel believes the combination of the pitch and the new facilities should make Páirc Tailteann a venue capable of attracting “quite a few top-class matches”.
That means the new Páirc Tailteann could become a place where Meath supporters come to watch Meath.
But not only Meath.
More than match day
There is also a bigger idea behind the redevelopment.
The space behind the new stand will be open and accessible, allowing pedestrians to move through the area even when there is no match taking place.
Meath County Council has plans for a wider masterplan involving Páirc Tailteann and the surrounding area, and the redevelopment gives the stadium the opportunity to become part of something bigger in Navan.
“We want to play our part in that,” says Noel.
There is even a longer term vision beyond the current project.
The dream remains a 21,000 capacity all seater Páirc Tailteann.
That is not for tomorrow.
The current development itself is costing well over €20 million when the construction and other associated costs are taken into account.
But the fact that the conversation can now be about what might come next rather than whether anything will happen at all is progress in itself.
Now people can see it
The redevelopment has been a long road.
The project had reached tender stage in 2020 and was due to begin that August. Then COVID stopped everything.
When the project returned, construction prices had changed and the plans had to be revisited.
The clubs stayed with it.
Funding was secured through the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund and the Ireland’s Immigrant Investor Programme, alongside support from the GAA.
Now the focus is turning towards the next stage.
Fundraising.
And this time there is something important missing from the equation.
Doubt.
Páirc Tailteann CLG has always felt that it would be difficult to ask the wider Meath community to contribute while the redevelopment remained something people could only see on paper.
That has changed.
“We’ve felt all along that until people saw progress on the ground, because as you say, there was a certain cynicism about this and would it happen,” says Noel.
“It’s now happening, it’s now visible.”
Naming rights are being considered, along with pre-sale seats and a proposed ‘Royal Way’, a walkway where individuals and clubs could have their names installed.
There is room for other ideas too.
The important thing is that supporters will soon have the opportunity to play their own part in the next chapter of Páirc Tailteann.
April 12
There is a date on the horizon.
April 12, 2027 is the concluding date for the project.
Noel is careful about making promises when there are still several months of construction ahead.
“So far we’re on schedule,” he says.
“But you know projects and what can happen.”
The assessment of the work being carried out by Sisk is positive however.
“They mean business and they want to get the job done, get it done well, and get it done on time.”
And then comes the other part.
“‘And we’ll try and get it done on budget as well.”
For now, though, there is something rather more satisfying than a date on a programme.
There is a stadium taking shape.
The foundations are in.
The pitch is untouched.
The tunnel is almost there.
The lights are coming back.
The first pieces of the stand are on their way.
And for a project that has spent a very long time in the future tense, Páirc Tailteann is finally becoming something you can actually see.
For Noel, who has been involved from the early stages and describes the whole thing as a “labour of love”, that matters.
“I really felt strongly from the word go,” he says.
“A labour of love, something, a dream coming true.”
After all the waiting, the dream is no longer just sitting on a drawing board.
“The dream is now becoming a reality and I’m just delighted.”
By Meath GAA Wed 19th Aug
