THE MUNSTER GAA Council have announced that the capacity of Páirc Uí Chaoimh has been increased to 36,646 ahead of Sunday’s Munster hurling final between Cork and Limerick.

The decision on this figure has been reached after the completion of works on the stadium, a full review of operations during last weekend’s Munster football final and consideration of health and safety requirements.

Waterford and Limerick meet in the final of the Munster Minor Hurling final on Sunday at Páirc Uí Chaoimh too.

The Cork ground has worked with a capacity of 32,550 in recent times, but this increase has obviously resulted in additional tickets for Sunday’s finals being made available to the participating counties and through a public sale.

In a statement released this afternoon, the Munster council addressed what they termed as “extensive commentary in the media since the Munster football finals in relation to the engagement of a professional security firm at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.”

That move come as a result of advice from the GAA’s Health and Safety department, say the Munster council, and “was geared towards ensuring that the safe capacity could be increased for next Sunday’s hurling finals.”

Hiring a professional security firm was essential to manage “crowd flows in each of the tunnels and to and from the outer temporary concourse areas” and “filling of the terraces and crowd movement on the terraces during the event,” as had been identified as key factors in a report on the requirements for enlarging the capacity of Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The Munster council pointed out that it “appreciates the role of voluntary stewards at all its games but equally has an obligation to act on any recommendations to comply with Health and Safety requirements.”

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