Mayo GAA has denied claims of financial mismanagement while revealing An Garda Síochána have been informed of “threatening and abusive” emails sent to county board officers.
Monday night’s special county board meeting in Westport was attended by GAA president Jarlath Burns and association director general Tom Ryan.
During the meeting Burns condemned what he labelled as “toxic activity” targeted towards Mayo County Board officers while delegates unanimously passed a motion condemning such abuse and also supported a motion of confidence in current county board officers.
Mayo GAA released a statement afterwards saying the meeting had been called to “address a very serious adult safety issue that is facing the Co Board, due to an ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation that has been targeted at its officers over the past number of years.”
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The statement continued: “At the special meeting of more than 100 club delegates, Mayo Co Board outlined the nature of the threatening and abusive email correspondence that its officers continue to receive. Given the seriousness of the situation, a decision was taken to inform club delegates of the nature of the campaign against Mayo GAA, which constitutes an adult safety issue for all Co Board officers.
“The Co Board confirmed it has reported the matter to An Garda Síochána and that it intends to seek legal advice on the matter in the next week.
“Mayo GAA delegates unanimously passed two special motions, which were proposed from the floor. The first was a motion to unequivocally condemn the campaign of abuse and intimidation that is continues to be targeted at Mayo Co Board officers.
“The second motion was a unanimous vote of confidence in the current officers of Mayo Co Board to continue their work and seek to bring an end to this campaign.”
The presence of both Burns and Ryan highlighted the seriousness of the situation.
Burns said: “Mayo is a proud county with incredible GAA pedigree. It’s a county that is respected by the entire GAA family across the island of Ireland. But without unity there can be no progression.
“The GAA has a duty of care to the officers in every club and county, not only under adult safeguarding policies, but also to promote and value the selfless work of the volunteers that make our Association what it is.
“I’ve been very concerned about the threats, intimidation and toxic activity that has been directed against the officers of Mayo Co Board, which is bound to have a negative impact on all aspects of the administration of Mayo GAA. It’s now time for this to stop.”
Financial issues were also discussed during the gathering, including the board’s explanation on details of the repayment rate for Mayo GAA in relation to a €5 million loan taken on by Croke Park in 2015.
Mayo GAA stated the meeting had also been called to address “a series of false allegations and inaccurate claims that have been published online and on social platforms over recent weeks relating to the financial management of Mayo GAA, and the wider GAA organisation.”
Ryan made a presentation to the meeting, outlining how Croke Park had acquired the €5 million bank loan relating to Mayo GAA.
Mayo GAA added: “Under the terms of the agreement, the GAA secured a €1 million reduction in the capital value of Mayo GAA’s loan, extended the repayment schedule to 29 years and reduced the loan interest rate from 3.2% to 1.9%.
“This arrangement helped reduce Mayo GAA’s monthly loan repayments from more than €46,000 per month down to €34,000 per month – a change that resulted in a cash saving of €150,000 per annum for Mayo GAA. This renegotiated loan arrangement greatly improved the Co Boards cashflows, and helped direct more funding towards the preparation of County Teams each year.
“Tom Ryan outlined to club delegates how the loan arrangement has been reorganised further in recent years, with the loan term extended out to 32 years and repayments reduced further to €25,000 per month. In total, the new loan arrangement has saved Mayo GAA over €100,000 in loan repayments to date.
“The figures outlining these reductions in loan repayments and the amortisation of the loan has been fully disclosed in the accounts of Mayo GAA for the past several years.”
The meeting took place just hours after Kevin McStay stepped away from managing the Mayo senior football team indefinitely due to health reasons.
