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| The redeveloped O'Connor Park, Tullamore |
By Justin Kelly
Ongoing repayment problems linked to the O’Connor Park
redevelopment in Tullamore has led Offaly GAA bosses to request a financial bailout
from GAA headquarters at Croke Park.
According to local reports, the GAA’s National Finance Committee
recently intervened and will present Offaly with a bailout plan later this
month. The Offaly county board recently revealed their repayment struggles,
centring on €200,000 in debt owed to creditors involved in the redevelopment of
O’Connor Park.
Offaly GAA chairperson Pádraig Boland has said that “O’Connor
Park has to be more self-sustaining” going forward, but also re-iterated its potential
to do so. “We need to be more focused on that. We have been run like a voluntary
organisation, but we need to be more professional,” Boland added.
Boland said he was not casting “aspersions on anyone that
has been in control of Offaly GAA before,” and expressed confidence in the
ability of the county to get out of the strife currently afflicting its
finances. “The people who were here before did very well to keep the ball in
the air while playing into a gale force wind but we are where we are and my job
as chairman is to lead us out of it,” he remarked. “We need help from Croke
Park”, he added.
Offaly are not the first county to encounter financial difficulties
in recent years. Kildare and Sligo have both turned to GAA headquarters to
request help from the organisation’s central funds.
The bailout plan put forward by the GAA’s National Financial
Committee is set to be ratified by officials at an Offaly county board meeting
next month.
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