O'Neill backs anti-grants group

GAA Presidential candidate and outgoing Leinster Council Chairman Liam O’Neill has tonight backed the ‘Of One Belief’ anti-grants group and stated that a culture of jealousy must be avoid within the association.

O’Neill was referring to the issue of Government grants when speaking at the Ulster Bank GAA Presidential debate at IT Carlow as part of the Sigerson Cup weekend.

“What is being hit on there is the jealousy that could come in by one person being valued in monetary terms over another. I have spoken out a good bit about this in recent weeks and I would have grave concern over it,” the Laois man said.

O’Neill believes that the core issues at the heart of the GAA at the moment are amateurism and volunteerism and that the association needs to protect and value its amateur ethos.

“I spoke at Leinster Convention and I finished on it last Saturday where I talked about amateurism as a great leveller in the association. It’s the glue that makes us all equal – that we give our time freely.”

“If we want volunteers to volunteer for our activities and volunteers give us their time, we have to be far more organised than we were in the past and if we get an offer from them.

Cork’s Christy Cooney, is also in the presidential race and while dismissive of GAA money being used in the form of grants, concedes that the Government grant money should be distributed ‘equally and fairly’.

“Sometimes we under value the volunteer ethos within the association and it is something we must value,” Cooney stated.

“We are in a changing society and the whole framework of the association is different to what it was 30 years ago.

“If it was the GAA’s money there is no doubt about it but I wouldn’t be giving grants to players. I think if there was an error made with regards to managing the grants situation it was years ago when the proposal came from the Government.”

However Cooney is unable to pinpoint a quick-fix solution.

“We are in a catch 22 situation now and there are a number of scenarios I won’t go into now. I’m not in agreement with grants to individual players.

“I don’t believe the issue around the GPA is going to go away and we as an association have been working with them for the last number of years and we must make sure that our parameters in the future, as how we manage situations like that are written down now.”

Speaking in relation to current issues in relation to the GAA’s appeals procedures, O’Neill added that the GAA rule-book is in need of a revamp, and that a culture of responsibility must be adopted in all facets of the GAA.

“We have a very cumbersome rule-book. I don’t think the rule book we have at the moment would be invented if we started now,” he said.

“As officials of provincials and counties, we have to have a Code of honour and the people on the ground also have to act honestly. People have to admit they are wrong and accept their punishment.

“I have great admiration for Waterford hurler John Mullane – he put his hand up and said I have done the crime and I must do the time and I would wish that people would behave as admirably as he did.”