Grants saga dominates meeting

FOR the fourth consecutive month, proceedings at a meeting of Clare GAA County Board were dominated by the distribution of €250,000 amongst 10 clubs arising from the use of Croke Park for soccer and rugby.

The 10 clubs to receive €25,000 were identified at the April meeting, which sparked criticism from some who were unsuccessful. Subsequent to that meeting, Kilmaley, one of the unsuccessful clubs, wrote to association president Christy Cooney seeking an explanation as to how the 10 were chosen.
In the early stages of this Tuesday night’s debate, board secretary Pat Fitzgerald read a transcript of the discussion from the April meeting, during which he repeated that there were no objections on that occasion to the selection process.
“I did what I was asked to do at the Clareabbey meeting. We asked ye and begged ye to agree to divide the money between the 24 clubs. We were left with a pile of manure,” Fitzgerald said.
Arising from the minutes of the April meeting, Clarecastle delegate Bernard Hanrahan reminded the chairman that he had promised a delegate at an earlier meeting that he (chairman) would inform everyone of the criteria that was used.
Hanrahan added, “Seamus McCloy was on radio on the day after the last meeting and he opened a can of worms with his comments when suggesting that the clubs that were successful were the ones that had given help to the county board. Only for Clarecastle last October and November, ye wouldn’t have anything played. On that basis alone, our case should have been strengthened but seemingly it came against us. Should pitches be needed this year, go to the 10 that qualified and see will their pitches be available. We want to know where we failed and how did the 10 successful clubs qualify?”
“I won’t be doing that tonight,” chairman Michael O’Neill stated before reminding delegates, “our preferred option was that 24 clubs should get €10,000 each but Croke Park said no. Twenty of the 24 agreed and if we had gone down that road, I would probably have been suspended, as Croke Park did not agree. Before announcing the winners at the last meeting, it was pointed out that there was no visitation of clubs but nobody objected then but there has been a lot of criticism since then.”
Hanrahan responded that it would not have changed anything.
“It’s ironic that we were the only one of the four that refused to go with the proposal to have 24 clubs get €10,000 each that wasn’t successful.”
Kilmaley’s Tom McNamara stated, “It is an understatement to say my club is disappointed. We have spent €600,000 with no Lotto grant aid and no funding. We borrowed €280,000 and our parish provided the rest. We need to know the criteria which was used. My understanding was that the people from Croke Park would lay down the rules and go to the clubs. It looks like a toss still went ahead. When the 24 were identified, there should have been new criteria to select the 10,” the Kilmaley man said.
St Joseph’s secretary Dan O’Connor noted, “We have no issues with the 10 clubs that got the grants,” adding that he had written to the board about the matter.
“Croke Park are losing contact with the grassroots and they have caused all this controversy. I know that the other clubs are just as entitled to this grant as the clubs that received it. There should be some level of support through some scheme to recompense the unsuccessful clubs in some way and we should make this a priority of this board,” commented Tubber’s Michael Lee.
O’Neill supported that view and stated, “I have no problem with that and we should work towards it”.
“It’s not going to happen. Are you a magician?” asked Jackie McHugh from O’Callaghan’s Mills.
“Pat Fitz should have stood up and said he would go back. His spin tonight is only adding more confusion. The county board has let the clubs down,” commented Michael Neenan from Doonbeg.
O’Neill asked why these comments were not made at the last board meeting, before Neenan replied, “The 10 clubs were picked then. We got fed up with it. We were brain dead from listening to it. Johnnie Hill had the submissions in the boot of his car for 12 months. Ye let down the clubs. It was an insult to the clubs that they (Croke Park) didn’t visit us.”
Responding to his comments, secretary Pat Fitzgerald said he was “disappointed and appalled”.
“Croke Park didn’t want anything to do with it and shouldn’t have anything to do with it. They did us a favour. It was up to us. They didn’t do it for anyone else,” he noted.
Hanrahan added that Croke Park shouldn’t have gone back to the three-man committee. “They were defunct. It was a case of the tail wagging the dog. The three-man committee should have been men enough and decided the 10 themselves. They were selected to do a job and they should have done it.”
Johnnie Hill responded, “It was a decision of the 24 clubs to go outside. They felt that two members of our committee were compromised as their own clubs were in contention.”
He added that he was contacted by Croke Park. “I was asked to put my head on the block and confirm that the work was done as the submissions said. I was only asked to confirm that the projects were complete by the appointed date (December 2009). If the three-man committee had the final say then surely my own club Lissycasey would be in it.”
Crusheen’s Tony O’Donnell noted, “The biggest insult in all of this came from Seamus McCloy when he spoke on radio when he said those that didn’t get it made no contribution to the GAA. I would like if he came down here and said he made a wrong statement. He should write to each of the clubs and correct that. It’s time to get an apology.” This proposal was seconded by Dan O’Connor of St Joseph’s.
“I hope that a lot of lessons have been learned. We must be a bit more smart, more organised and more transparent if there are similar projects again. It’s time we move on now and as a board we have to more on. The issue has been dealt with and lessons must be learned,” O’Curry’s chairman Michael Curtin told the meeting.
Telling the meeting that he “felt guilty as he was one of the most vociferous throughout this”, Cooraclare’s PJ McGuane said, “Money is the root of all evil. If we didn’t get it we would be disappointed but I wouldn’t be castigating Pat Fitzgerald. He had one brief only. He got a committee and they came back with a decision.”
Before the debate concluded, both Dan O’Connor (St Joseph’s) and Bernard Hanrahan (Clarecastle) stressed that their “facilities will continue to be available to this board”.

Secondary county grounds applications
THERE is a committee almost in place to examine the applications for secondary county grounds in Clare, chairman Michael O’Neill told this week’s board meeting.
During a short discussion on this issue, Cooraclare’s PJ McGuane reminded the board of his club’s application to have their venue confirmed as a secondary county grounds.
Miltown’s Noel Walsh, noting McGuane’s request, reminded the meeting that “Miltown have a letter with you on this issue” before going on to point out that “Miltown is registered in Croke Park as the secondary county grounds and has been for many years”.
“Miltown weren’t qualified till last December as one of the conditions is to have covered accommodation,” commented Cooraclare’s P.J. McGuane.
Later, Doonbeg’s Michael Neenan asked “if there is correspondence from Doonbeg with regard to secondary county grounds?”
Confirming that they had the correspondence, secretary Pat Fitzgerald added that the board had correspondence “from a number of clubs”.
“When will they be visited?” asked Neenan, to which Clarecastle’s Bernard Hanrahan answered “when the criteria is right”. The response drew loud laughter from the attendance.
Amongst the facilities that clubs must have to be granted secondary county grounds status are covered accommodation, a warm-up facility, car parking accessibility, floodlighting and direct access from playing pitch to dressing rooms for officials and players.
Other clubs believed to be in contention are Kilmurry-Ibrickane (Quilty) and Kilmihil.