‘I have to clear my name’ – Chair of Leinster GAA responds to allegations he ignored correspondence from Wexford councillor

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The chairman of Leinster GAA has said he will not have his good name brought into disrepute after he was erroneously accused of not replying to an email sent from a Wexford councillor four years ago. Derek Kent served as chairman of Wexford GAA from 2016-20 before being appointed to the same role with Leinster GAA in January 2023.

However, at the October meeting of the Enniscorthy Municipal District (EMD) Councillor John O’Rourke mistakenly said he had emailed Mr Kent with a query regarding the ongoing parking problems outside St Patrick’s Park at Pearse Road.

During a discussion about how to alleviate those problems when big matches were taking place it was suggested that those living in the area write to the GAA to express their concerns.

"I wish them the best of luck writing to the GAA," replied Cllr O’ Rourke. “Four years ago I wrote to the person who is now the chairman of Leinster and I’m still awaiting a response.”

As the current chairman of Leinster GAA, Mr Kent was keen to point out that four years ago he was not involved with Wexford GAA having left the role a year previous. Stating that he prides himself on returning calls and emails and trying to fix whatever issues he can, Mr Kent said that while Cllr O’Rourke may well have contacted the chair of Wexford GAA four years ago it wasn’t him he spoke to or emailed.

“He didn’t contact me, he never contacted me, people are ringing me now saying I wouldn’t bother my arse doing anything about it even though I was contacted. I felt I had to respond to this as I don’t want my name tarnished. I had no correspondence from Cllr O’Rourke, I never got correspondence from Cllr O’Rourke. I have to clear my name.”

Today's News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday, November 11

In addition to clearing his name, Mr Kent said he would “welcome the opportunity” to help resolve the issues outside St Patrick’s Park.

“It can be fixed, we need to bring the stakeholders into a room and look at the peak times and put together a calendar,” he said. “So if there’s boxing on Tuesday at 7 p.m. we don’t put GAA matches there that evening, if there’s soccer on Sunday mornings we don’t put matches on then. And if we are hosting matches we put one on at 10 a.m. and the next at 4 p.m.”

The Enniscorthy Municipal District meeting heard how recent GAA club finals held in St Patrick’s Park caused considerable chaos for residents in the area.

“People could not get out of their homes, if there was an emergency you wouldn’t be able to get a fire engine or an ambulance in there,” Cllr Jackser Owens told the meeting. “You had three lanes of traffic in a cul-de-sac, and if you drove into it you wouldn’t be able to get out. We need to meet with the GAA again and see what can be done to solve this problem.”

He was supported by Cllr Pat Kehoe who suggested that the only way to respond to an emergency on the day would have been “via a helicopter”.

“We should approach the showgrounds committee again and see if there is someway of facilitating the traffic when there’s big matches on, maybe let people back out on to the Ross Road,” he added.

A previous meeting with the residents had resulted in bollards being proposed by a council engineer. However, when crews went to install those bollards they were met with opposition from residents.

“We looked at putting them on the footpaths,” said roads engineer Neil Dempsey. “But the crews went out and were told by the residents they didn’t want the bollards. That would have prevented parking on one side of the road at least.”