Tag Archives: Pat Fitzgerald

‘A time of change for Clare GAA’ provided equal measures of excitement and trepidation amongst delegates at the July County Board meeting in Caherlohan, Tulla this week. With outgoing full-time secretary Pat Fitzgerald opting to sidestep the ‘fuss’ and fanfare of his final county board meeting following his departure after 32 consecutive years, a new chapter for Clare GAA has consequently been accelerated much faster than originally anticipated. Based upon the Saffron & Blue Strategic Plan, a full-time COO (Chief Operating Officer) will supersede Fitzgerald’s role while the complimentary position of secretary will revert to being a voluntary appointment. With the deadline for applications exhausted last Friday, Clare GAA Chairman Kieran Keating revealed that 16 people have applied for the prestigious post, with the process now in the hands of Croke Park to sift through the eligibility of the candidates and produce a shortlist for interview. The interview process will be carried out by a committee comprised of two from …

SECRETARY of Clare GAA Pat Fitzgerald has said he will take a civil case regarding alleged online abuse, telling The Clare Champion, “I’m fairly sure there is a case there to be answered.” The move follows a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) not to bring a criminal prosecution after the gardaí had conducted an investigation on the matter. Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Fitzgerald said he was accepting the DPP decision. “The way the system works, as I know it, is they (the Gardaí) investigate it, do a report, send it to the DPP to decide whether to go forward with a case. He decided not to. “I don’t think you can appeal a decision, I have looked for clarification on it alright.” Mr Fitzgerald said that he will now pursue a civil action. “Yeah, I’m going taking a civil case, that’s my intention at this point in time.” He said that he has done his best in …

AN online meeting of Clare County Board had to be adjourned on Tuesday night due to technical issues, but not before Chairman Jack Chaplin had said that hurling supporters club accounts for 2012 to 2016 are not the business of the board. He also indicated that as the Kilmaley club had not followed up in writing on questions raised by its delegate Niall Romer at the April meeting about the position of Secretary Pat Fitzgerald, these would not be addressed. Speaking to the Clare Champion this week, Chaplin reiterated that the GAA have advised that supporters clubs are not the business of county boards. “What Croke Park has said is it’s outside our remit, what happened with those fundraisers. Going forward they are looking to regulate it, but they are historic ones and are outside of our remit.” Asked if he was concerned that significant sums appear to have been raised on the back of Clare GAA, but there seems …

By Ronan Judge THE chairman of one of Clare’s biggest GAA clubs has called on the association to do more to stand up for employees who are the subject of online attacks. Chairman of Sixmilebridge GAA, Paddy Meehan, told The Clare Champion that some of the abuse directed at Clare County Board secretary Pat Fitzgerald, is “unbelievable.” Allegations of online abuse against Pat Fitzgerald are the subject of a garda investigation. Meehan says, “Pat Fitzgerald is a paid employee of the GAA and I don’t believe they have stood up for him and I don’t think they have backed him 100%. Maybe if employers start backing people… because you see it nowhere else. There was a case in Kerry there where a former soccer player was being abused and it went to court. It has to stop, this online abuse, people hiding behind computers. That’s where we’re coming from. I have often went to the Clare County Board, had issues …

APPLICATIONS by close to 300 isolated players formed a large part of discussions at the latest Clare County GAA Board meeting. At the outset of the meeting at Hotel Woodstock in Ennis, secretary Pat Fitzgerald read the applications from adult players. Joe Pender, on behalf of the underage hurling board, and Joe Kelly, on behalf of the underage football board, followed with two further lists of applications. Some adult applications had been dealt with at the February board meeting. After the lists had been presented, Tulla GAA Club delegate Brian Torpey observed that “one club has received assistance from 54 players”. “We don’t want to stop anyone from playing but for those of us that are landlocked [no exclusive football club adjacent], it’s hard. Some stipulations must be introduced. Maybe when a club passes a certain number of isolated players, they must play in A grade competitions,” he suggested. Supporting Torpey, Feakle delegate Mike Daly said, “If we could only …

IT has emerged that county secretary Pat Fitzgerald’s “contract with Croke Park expired on July 1”, according to board treasurer Bernard Keane. He was replying to a query from O’Callaghan’s Mills delegate Noel O’Driscoll. Mr Fitzgerald said, “It was put to the delegates at a board meeting two years ago if you wanted me to report here or to Croke Park and you opted that I report here. In 2015, I was asked to supervise the development at Cusack Park and I agreed. There is no longer a stipend from Dublin. I took a significant cut in my pay”. Earlier in the meeting, Tulla GAA Club’s Brian Torpey had disapproved of comments made by Mr Fitzgerald in his report. Referring to the decision of team manager Davy Fitzgerald to step down, the secretary had said, “The two goals leaked to Galway were horrendous defensive blunders and for those, the players have to ship the blame”. Mr Torpey commented, “No one …

Treasurer of the Clare GAA County Board, Bernard Keane has admitted that the board’s finance are “serious” prompting them to acquire “a line of credit of €200,000″. The financial scenario was outlined to delegates attending this week’s meeting of Clare GAA and the meeting unanimously supported a request from the executive to sanction the borrowings. Treasurer Bernard Keane said, “This is a necessity. There is no income until July. The finances are very serious at the moment”. Secretary Pat Fitzgerald explained that the board hoped that the borrowings will be paid back before October. “All outgoings are between January and April and monies don’t start to flow until July. We have acquired similar resolutions from Croke Park and from Munster Council,” he added. Outlining the expenditure to date on county teams, the board treasurer said this amounted to €153,244.27. However, he cautioned that it will be higher as “there are a lot of bills to come in yet”. The breakdown of …

THE social media reaction to the defeats suffered by Clare senior hurlers, in both the league and championship was disturbing, according to county secretary Pat Fitzgerald. In his annual report, which will be presented to next Wednesday’s convention, he says, “There was a cohort chomping, waiting for the opportunity to go on websites and indulge in an unbalanced bashing of the team and the management. “Nobody deserves to be pilloried by people who haven’t the courage to reveal their identity and hide behind pseudonyms. To me, there are boundaries as regards acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and some of the postings on these sites overstepped the mark and instead of been based on constructive criticism, were used as a means for personal attacks,” the secretary continues. “I have to admit, I was taken aback by the degree of cynicism to the appointment of Davy to the Clare job initially. Opinion was clearly divided and he had to work hard to win …