Cooney defends presidential pay

GAA president Christy Cooney has rejected suggestions made last weekend by former Kilkenny All-Ireland-winning captain Eddie O’Connor that he is being hypocritical in his insistence that inter-county managers should not be paid.

O’Connor pointed to the fact that while the president isn’t paid directly by the GAA, he does continue to be paid by his employer for his three-year term, that sum then reimbursed to the employer by the GAA.

As a high-powered executive in Fás, on a reported salary of nearly €160,000 per annum, this would have meant the GAA paying a near half-million total to Fás to cover the president’s term of office.