Galway GAA chief admits audit finds “damning” lack of financial oversight

An independent audit of Galway GAA’s finances has found that there is a “damning” lack of financial oversight at the body.

County Board Chairman Pat Kearney said that the audit showed that there has been vert little oversight of financial policies in Galway GAA.

Mazars conducted an audit of the Galway GAA at the behest of Croke Park, the results of which were presented to club delegates on Tuesday night.

The report does not mention any Galway GAA officer by name, or put a figure to money that may have been mishandled.

The Irish Examiner reports that Pat Kearney said there was no evidence of malpractice, but continuous poor practices.

For the report Mazars looked at ticketing processes, gates processes, credit cards, treasury management, financial control and sponsorship issues.

Mr Kearney said the County Board was told they need to improve on their working procedures going forward.

The report recommended the creation of a full-time position of operations manager to be filled by someone with a background in finance to manage this €5 million a year juggernaut.

Mr Kearney has suggested that the position of secretary, until recently filled by John Hynes, could be downgraded to a voluntary role.

The pay for that job could then be diverted to a new operations manager, whom he hopes to appoint in the spring of 2019.

Delegates from 62 of Galway’s 81 clubs were in attendance at the meeting on Tuesday, and Kearney admits that people were disappointed with what they heard.

The executive committee met on Wednesday night to prepare a detailed statement on the findings of the audit which will be delivered at next Monday’s convention.

Next week’s will also see the county’s finances for this year outlined, which are expected to be positive.