GAA official quits amid missing cash probe

Detectives are today investigating the disappearance of more than €142,000 from GAA ticket sales after the resignation of a senior official.

The association’s Waterford County Board has issued a writ on the former high-ranking member over the alleged misappropriation of money.

It is understood the senior official was given time to rectify the shortfall but when colleagues lost patience the gardaí were called in yesterday.

The scandal was revealed to officials at an emergency meeting of the county board in a hotel in Dungarvan last night.

One official said: “They were all shocked, of course. Some delegates thought they were being called in about something else.”

It is understood the missing cash was from ticket sales for Waterford inter-county games in the All-Ireland championship over a few months last year.

Tickets for the championship are allocated to the county’s Eastern Board and the Western Board from the GAA headquarters.

The senior official from the Eastern Board resigned last week.

It is understood that a small number of top GAA officials in Waterford knew about the missing cash for some time and had asked the senior colleague to rectify the matter.

But when that attempt to claw back the money failed it was decided to call in the gardaí and issue legal proceedings.

A Garda spokeswoman confirmed that detectives in Waterford are investigating a complaint about alleged misappropriation of cash from the county’s GAA board.

GAA headquarters, in Croke Park, Dublin, said they were aware of the allegations but refused to comment in any detail about the circumstances.

“It’s a matter for Waterford County Board and our Finance Committee here,” said a spokeswoman.