Cork GAA to investigate club who allegedly breached Level 5 restrictions 

Gardaí are investigating possible breaches of Covid-19 restrictions, under the Health Act 1947, by a sports club in west Cork

Cork County Board has established a committee to investigate alleged breaches of Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions by a GAA club in the county.

The Irish Examiner reported last month that gardaí are investigating possible breaches of Covid-19 restrictions, under the Health Act 1947, by a sports club in west Cork.

Sanctions of a fine up to €2,500 and/or six months imprisonment can apply under the 1947 Health Act. There is also a tiered fines system, which includes fixed penalty notices of up to €500.

At Tuesday’s Cork County Board meeting, chairman Marc Sheehan said the executive has established an investigation sub-committee “to seek observations from a unit of the association in the county in relation to alleged Covid-19 training breaches. We will be dealing with this matter in due course.”

Addressing the county board meeting, GAA president Larry McCarthy said he believes the return date for club activity will be influenced by the GAA’s management of juveniles returning inside the whitewash later this month and the association’s running of the National League.

As per the Government’s The Path Ahead plan, non-elite teams can only resume non-contact training in pods of no more than 15 as part of Level 4 restrictions. It is only when measures have dropped to Level 2 that they can return to contact training.

“Children coming back on the 26th of April is a huge boost to everybody, not least parents. I know the kids will do well and I am just hoping there is not too much gathering of adults at the pitch gate or around the car park which may cause us some problems," said McCarthy.

“With inter-county training scheduled to start on April 19 and games a few weeks later, we will be back a little way. 

Of course the biggest relief will come when clubs are back in action and there is some fun back at that stage in all our lives.

“It is fine having the inter-county games back, but club action is where it is all at for us all, I would suggest. And just in case you are thinking of asking, I don’t have any particular insight into Government thinking on the issue.

“I suspect, and this is only personal conjecture, that they will look at how we manage the children being back, as well as how we run the League, before they give any consideration to allowing us to run our club games again, but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.”

McCarthy commended the “bold and imaginative strategy” of newly formed One Cork, while also remarking that Cork GAA has “turned a corner” on the issue of the Páirc Uí Chaoimh stadium debt.

“It would be remiss of me not to mention the elephant in the room which is obviously the debt on Páirc Uí Chaoimh. In the last 12 months or so, we have begun to turn a corner on the issue. And with the creation of One Cork and the day-to-day operations of the stadium being managed locally, that progress, I am hoping, will continue. And will continue without any impact on core county board activities.

“It is probably one of the finer stadiums in Europe. I look forward to the day when it is a successful revenue-generator rather than a revenue-consumer for us.”

McCarthy labelled the Cork GAA streaming service, provided in partnership with the Irish Examiner, as an “excellent model” that should be copied by other counties.

Elsewhere, it was announced during the county board meeting that the draws for the 2021 Cork County Championships will take place on Thursday, April 29.