The questions Cork GAA must answer

The executive of the Cork County Board met yesterday last evening, and the story in these pages earlier in the week surely figured in their discussions.

The executive of the Cork County Board met yesterday evening, and the story in these pages earlier in the week surely figured in their discussions.

A quick recap — ahead of the board’s annual convention on December 8, the Irish Examiner revealed that the board’s deficit was €558,000. The board-appointed audit and risk sub-committee sent a report to the executive on December 4, advising it to inform delegates at the convention that the real deficit was more than €2.4m — adding that to do otherwise would be misleading those delegates.

When the executive did not inform delegates of the higher figure at the convention, the audit and risk committee wrote again to the executive on December 11 to express its dissatisfaction. The sub-committee added that the financial position had not been fairly and completely presented and that its members would resign were it not for the consequent reputational damage to the board.

These events lead to the following questions.

Why did the executive ignore the advice of its own audit and risk committee? At the same convention mentioned above, chairperson Tracey Kennedy referred to “solid governance structures (and) a number of key advisory sub-committees in place”. That being the case, why was a specific direction from one of the most important of those sub-committees ignored?

The second letter from the audit and risk sub-committee refers to the first report thus: “... we now understand not all of you received (it)”. Why was the report was not issued to all members of the executive on such a sensitive topic? Anyone reading the report would surely have recognised its significance: why was the advice in the report not shared?

The deficit of €558,000 was described in these pages on November 29 by CEO/secretary Kevin O’Donovan as a “wake-up call”. He added:

Crisis is a dangerous word, but we can’t have another year like this. Yes, our reserves are secure but it’s not sustainable to continue with losses indefinitely. This is a wake-up call for Cork GAA.

What is the situation now in relation to those reserves? Will they have to be used to make up the €2.4m?

The audit and risk sub-committee’s initial report states: “Failure to outline the combined position would, in the view of the (sub-)committee, present a very significant risk to the reputation of the Cork County Board, with its key stakeholders, and the wider GAA community, as has been demonstrated recently in other organisations.

Furthermore, it has the potential to damage the brand and to endanger future funding from government, business and individuals.” Accordingly, what has been the reaction from Croke Park to this latest situation?

What has been the reaction of the clubs — as ‘key stakeholders’ — to the disparity between the figures released to them at Convention and the figures advocated by the audit and risk sub-committee?

Is it realistic to expect that the preparation of Cork inter-county teams at all levels will not be adversely affected by the county board deficit being almost five times higher than was initially reported?

Finally, is a club levy or similar scheme still a non-runner in Cork in these circumstances?