Cork senior men's & ladies footballers first ever double header yesterday evening where only 1817 attend at Pairc Ui Rinn while a short distance away a brand new multi million stadium now open well over a year that no one can put a final costing on, is unplayable. Cork footballers rooted to the bottom of Divison 2 on 1 point, an out of court settlement with a former officer in the courts, officers on boards engaging in public spats & now the new CEO Kevin O Donovan in the Irish Independent has not ruled out the possibility of levies been imposed on Cork clubs in the future. He also states that nearly 18 months on that there are still four ongoing negotiations, one with the contractor, one with local Government, one with central Government & one over the pitch. There has been one figure from the Cork County board chairperson, one from Peter Mc Kenna & a recent third from people appointed to clarify the final figure. This project was overseen by one individual who was a full time employee of the GAA, who was overseeing his work on a multi million development ? What are the negotiations with the contractor 18 months on, what are the negotiations with local Government & especially with central Government. Surely Central Government owes it to Taxpayers who had €30 Million pumped into this, giving transparency & answers on what negotiations are ongoing. There seems to be no answers, yet we hear there are ongoing negotiations ? Time for the Cabinet & the PAC committee to call in the people responsible & get answers. It is a shocking indictment on leadership within the GAA that no one is responsible. The fact that the full time paid officials in the GAA at central level pumped Millions into this without seemingly any oversight & that the full time officials at local level in Cork still cannot agree on a final figure with negotiations still ongoing 18 months on, shows that these people are not answerable to anyone. It must be very hard for the Cork footballers to lift themselves when there is a house of cards tumbling all around them. If Cork clubs are penalised with levies, they need only look at those in charge at local & central level for placing further financial pressures on them for the incompetence of others.

Uimhir.a.3. (Galway) - Posts: 409 - 24/02/2019 10:48:24    2167431