GAA president shows support for Mayo amid financial controversy

Positive news for the Connacht county.

It came to light in December during a county convention that they had voluntary told revenue that they may owe €120,000 in tax, in relation to their Cúl Camps programme in 2018 and 2019.

As per RTÉ, the county have also been under scrutiny over allegations of financial mismanagement due to a 2015 loan from the GAA's Central Council to "assume the county's debt".

On the issue, Mayo GAA's treasurer, Valerie Murphy, said: “The Central Council assumed the internal debt of Mayo GAA in January 2015.

"The intervention was at the request of the county committee and a resolution was agreed locally. The arrangements included a provision for diminutive indebtedness, so there was a write-down and it was passed on. The borrowings are reflective of that in the loan agreement."

She added: “It’s about the ability to repay your loan and there was a stage there where we weren’t.

“We have €2.135million on deposit. To date we have earned €59,000 in interest on that money. We can take that money out because it is our own money, it is for our big projects.

“It is our money and it is not held. We were getting no interest in the bank, it was sitting in current accounts and not one euro being earned. So to date €59,000 is what we have earned on that. If I had left that in current accounts we wouldn’t have it.

“If you are a club and have money in the bank, invest it in Croke Park."

The county board have now organised a meeting for Monday evening to discuss these issues.

The meeting will be attended by GAA president Jarlath Murphy and director general Tom Ryan, which is seen as a show of support for Mayo GAA.