Duffy: Still no progress on illegal payments

AN exasperated GAA Director General Páraic Duffy has admitted he doesn’t know what will come of his discussion paper on forbidden payments to managers.

GAA President Christy Cooney last week revealed that the document, which has been circulated among members of the Association’s Management Committee (Coiste Bainisti), may never be published or acted upon.

Duffy himself is unsure if anything will come of the work he has done to address a fundamental issue striking at the heart of the GAA’s amateur ethos.

“It has been discussed twice by Coiste Bainisti, I have no idea if it will be again this weekend,” said Duffy yesterday. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen with it.

“It is a matter for Coiste Bainisti what they want to do with it.”

Duffy appears to be frustrated by the reluctance to openly debate the issue of managers being paid.

Sources close to Coiste Bainisti believe some of the suggestions listed in the paper are too drastic to even consider releasing into the public domain. However, Duffy’s intention has been to stir debate about payments to managers and come to a conclusion about dealing with the issue of theGAA’s amateurism being flouted.

As he wrote in his 2010 annual report: “The least acceptable option is to continue to proclaim a value and, at the same time, ignore it. Andexpressing a determination to address the issue is meaningless unless followed by effective action.”