The “serious abuse” of the Galway GAA credit card for the payment of personal expenses, officer expenses totalling €45k in 2016 and running up a ticket debt of almost half a million were among the explosive revelations by Galway county board treasurer Mike Burke at last night’s heated convention. Breaking his silence on the financial mismanagement within Galway GAA during the period 2015-17, which led to an independent audit commissioned by Croke Park, Burke said there had been a frightening lack of transparency and oversight.
Having established a committee earlier this year to conduct an internal review of Galway GAA finances, Burke said legal threats following the completion of this committee’s work led to the intervention of Croke Park.
It was also revealed at last night’s convention that there are four legal cases pending involving Galway GAA.
“The serious issues uncovered included the use of a Galway GAA credit card for the payment of personal expenses, bonuses and expenses paid without proper authorisation and documentary support, and lack of control and transparency over tickets drawn down from Croke Park and payment of them. There is money missing,” Burke told infuriated delegates.
The treasurer criticised fellow top-table officials for giving interviews during the year and painting an inaccurate picture of previous mismanagement and what was contained within both the internal report and the Mazars report presented to delegates last week. “It was said there was poor practice. That is not how I see it. The use of the Galway GAA credit card for the payment of personal expenses was more than that. The misuse of the Galway GAA credit card was a serious abuse of Galway GAA monies.
“A review of officers expenses in previous accounts show them climbing as high as €45,000 in 2016. Santa and his elves might have been generous back then, but he has tightened his belt now. I can tell you the expenses for this year will be well short of that amount, less than €10k.”
Burke continued: “In relation to the lack of control over tickets, I was absolutely shocked to learn that tickets drawn down by Galway GAA [from Croke Park] to the value of €440k in 2016 were not paid for until well over a year later. One would have to ask where was the money around that period of time. I can say with certainty that it was not sitting in an escrow account waiting to be handed over.”
The county board treasurer remarked that Croke Park did Galway a favour by not demanding the near half a million sum back then as “we didn’t have the money to pay”.
“There was total and utter confusion given ticket monies were lodged in the same account as other monies. This was a recipe for disaster and we moved to resolve this problem very swiftly this year. I am pleased to confirm that all ticket monies drawn down by Galway have been paid in full to Croke Park.
Coming to the end of his first year as county board treasurer, Burke revealed there was no information forthcoming from the Galway GAA office for the first nine months of this year with regard to previous financial operations.
“I want to make quite clear that many of the people in management were totally unaware of the problems and were kept in the dark.
“When I set about my job last year, it didn’t take me long to realise that all was not well with the management of our financial affairs. Some people at the time wanted to forget about the past and simply look to the future, but I resisted that because in order to resolve any problem, you need to get to the root of the problem first.
“Some people, not many I should add, within Galway GAA put every barrier and obstacle they could find to prevent me and the honest people in Galway GAA [from doing our work]. Good riddance to those who have done a disservice to Galway GAA and whose only interest was self-interest.”
Burke said there is absolutely no need to fill the vacant CEO position, vacated by John Hynes. Instead, he called for the appointment of a full-time finance manager.
Pearses delegate Paul Bellew described the culture within the county board as “absolutely rotten”.
Income from the Ed Sheeran concert this summer was amended to €119k, having previously been reported as being around €80k. While no concert was confirmed for Pearse Stadium in 2019, there will be at least one at the Salthill venue in 2020.
By Eoghan Cormican Sports Reporter Irish Examiner
