Dear Members,

Following on from the letter that you have recently received from Christy, in relation to the cessation of the Christy O Connor Golf Club, I, as the outgoing captain, would like to inform you of the efforts made by me and numerous other members to keep the club going in Silloge Park.

As you are aware, the termination of the licence granted to the club was notified by way of letter of the 19th November 2009 from Dublin City Council. On becoming aware of this, a number of members formed a Fact Finding Group in the hopes of ascertaining the exact position that we as members would be in if the termination was to take effect.

Following on from the Groups first meeting on the 8th December last (when we endeavoured to (1) establish the facts and (2) discuss the future of the COC GC) it was decided that a letter would be written to Dublin City Council seeking a meeting to discuss the matter. This meeting took place on the 15th December last, when myself, Leo Lennon-Maher, Donal Craig and Ben Finlay met with Gerry Barry who represented the Council. The main purpose of this meeting, from our point of view, was to seek an extension of the termination to the end of 2010 and, in the intervening period, we would ensure that we would establish a committee to take control of the club. After a very productive meeting unfortunately Mr. Barry was not prepared to alter the decision to terminate the licence.

The outcome of this meeting was conveyed to the Fact Finding Group on the 17th December. At this meeting we were informed by Christy that he was endeavouring to re-locate the club to another venue but he would not be able to confirm one way or the other if this was feasible until January 2010. As you are already aware this did not prove possible and therefore the club was no longer.

It is with the utmost regret that I am writing this letter as I feel that wonderful friendships have been made over our 10 year tenure in Silloge Park; the cessation of which will now result in each of the members moving on to pastures new.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the Fact Finding Group for their efforts and most importantly every member of the club for making it such a wonderful club to be a member of. I would also like to thank Christy and Peter O Connor for all of their work over the years and wish them all the very best for the future. It would be remiss of me if I did not mention Christy O Connor Senior for allowing us as members to carry one of the greatest ever names in Irish sport with honour and distinction everywhere we played.


Yours in sport,


JOE WHELAN
P.S. It has been suggested that some members might like to get together now and again for a game, so if you are interested please text Ben Finlay on 0876884019 or email him on ben_finlay@csso.gov.ie.