I think we can remove this and rename the called function but still give you access to grailsApplication on construction.

Essentially you implement an interface on the service called InitializingBean which is part of Spring. It is not very well documented but I've used it previously with success.

Checkout this example:
http://jetlet.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/initialising-in-grails-service.html

I think this approach would be more in keeping with the "Grails/Spring Way" even though it is a little obscure. Any thoughts?