Munster Council robustly defends distribution of funding

The Munster Council has challenged comments made by Dublin football legend and economist, Robbie Kelleher relating to how monies are distributed to counties and clubs.

In Saturday’s Irish Examiner, Kelleher, a Davy Stockbrokers economist, gave a wide-ranging interview about football in Dublin and beyond, and said: “I also always had a bee in my bonnet over the proceeds of provincial matches — if Cork play Kerry in Killarney in front of 40,000 people, the Munster Council get all the money. Crazy.

“Same for Dublin and Meath if they fill Croke Park with 80,000 people. It all goes to the Leinster Council.

“I’m not sure they should have access to all that money when there are counties with serious financial problems, and clubs with the same problems. The money should be directed towards those.”

Munster Council PRO Ger Ryan responded yesterday to the comments.

“The interview with Robbie Kelleher in Saturday’s paper was very interesting and I wouldn’t disagree with a lot of the points he made.

“We’re not having a go at him personally but I would like to point out that the Munster Council does issue money back to clubs and counties

“First, we contribute significantly towards the costs of the coaching and games development activities in all six counties in the province – this is paying for the sort of work that will keep young people playing our games.

“Second, our annual development grants supporting clubs in the province amount to approximately €1 million, and those grants are vital to both the financial security and future prosperity of clubs all over Munster.”

Ryan also pointed to the range of financial measures announced by the Munster Council earlier this year.

Those measures include a grant of €3.75m for the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh while a financial package totalling €2.5m was finalised for Clare, Limerick, Kerry, Tipperary and Waterford — in effect a grant of €500,000 for each of those counties intended for major works such as county grounds and centres of excellence.

When the announcement was made the council also confirmed the annual club development grant scheme would also remain in place, a scheme that has invested over €5.5m in club facilities in Munster over the last five years.