Croker steps in to tackle Sligo €1.5m cash crisis

Croke Park has sent in a team of officials to oversee a €1.5m financial crisis which has arisen in Sligo GAA.

A special monitoring committee appointed by Croke Park has been established to handle the crisis.

The three-man monitoring committee includes chairman of the Finance Committee in Croke Park and Sligo native, Lauri Quinn, Connacht GAA Secretary, John Prenty, and Gerry McGovern, another member of the Croke Park finance committee and a Connacht Council officer.

The Sligo County Board has also applied to Croke Park for a loan of €250,000 to help with the day-to-day running of the games in the county.

In reaction to the committee’s appointment, Sligo County Board has ratified the implementation of a new extended finance committee, which included members of the Sligo County Board as well as non-members in former manager Tommy Breheny, former treasurer Peadar Niland and former chairman John Murphy.

One of the responsibilities of the new finance committee, who were due to meet last night for the first time, is to draft budgets for the next five years and to immediately kickstart fundraising in the county.

A Sligo county committee source said the major hole in the county’s finances had accumulated over several years.

“Money was spent on the day-to-day running of the game without major fundraising being done. The committee have been put in place to make sure funding is put in place and to ensure that targets are met,” he said.

Meanwhile, work has also ground to a halt on the €3.2m Sligo GAA Centre of Excellence at Scarden. The 22-acre site near Sligo town was purchased for €560,000 in 2010 and despite the sod being turned by former GAA President Christy Cooney in April 2011, phase one of the development has still to be completed.

Phase one, which includes the construction of three grass pitches, underground works, floodlights and perimeter fencing was due to be completed by June, but little work has been seen on the site in the last 12 months.