Galway GAA sponsors Supermac’s have issued a fresh statement to clarify the motivation behind last week's statement on the county board’s spending of sponsorship money.

It indicates that complaints from parents and mentors, as well as management teams, were what prompted them to act by issuing the statement which called for a probe into how the county’s finances were being spent, demanding that two audits in total be published.

The fast-food company also revealed that it had been approached by parents and mentors with stories of how the county’s teams have been under-funded in the past as a result of “budget cuts”. 

The statement in full reads as follows:

“Following on from our request for the reports into the finances of Galway GAA to be made public, Supermac’s would like to clarify the reasons behind our initial statement:

“1. Supermac’s fundamentally believes that in order for the Galway teams to be successful, there needs to be transparency at all levels. Supermac’s sole objective is to assist the Galway teams to achieve success on the field. Parents, mentors and management teams have approached Supermac’s on numerous occasions to bring several incidents that have taken place to our attention including revelations of underage teams having to bring their own lunches to tournaments in other counties, teams competing while wearing mismatched jerseys against fully kitted opposition and management teams requiring further resources that weren’t being made available to them due to budget cuts.

“2. Supermac’s has no interest in seeking to influence the decision-making process of the Galway GAA but while a cloud hangs over the organisation it has an effect on the competitiveness and success of our teams. Supermac’s acknowledges that a lot of honourable people contribute at all levels of the GAA and whilst there are the beginnings of a necessary change in culture, the path forward cannot be laid until the issues of the past are revealed. Supermac’s seeks the transparency and accountability which are vital to confidence going forward. The first steps in this journey require that the two concluded reports into the finances of Galway GAA be published in full or otherwise further investigated by the relevant authorities. Supermac’s is at a loss to understand why these reports have not been published. We re-iterate that players, management, supporters and volunteers who willingly give their time for the promotion and administration of our games, deserve no less.

“3. As previously stated, our concerns in relation to financial matters in Galway GAA were brought to the attention of the Galway County Board 4 years ago and, shortly afterwards, to the attention of Croke Park and nothing happened. We raised these concerns again at a meeting with the County Board in January of this year following the findings of the Mazars Report.

“4. In the interest of clarification, Supermac’s has separate sponsorship arrangements with the Galway Camogie Board and the Galway Ladies Football Board. The figures released in Supermac’s statement last week were not inclusive of these other sponsorships.”

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