Momentum is building behind a campaign to have Dublin GAA’s level of funding dramatically reduced, says organiser John Connellan.
The former Westmeath footballer launched the initiative in January with a view to having a motion debated at next February’s GAA Congress which would call for coaching and games development funding to be allocated to counties based on their GAA membership levels.
Having written to every club and county outside of Dublin, Connellan says he has received assurances from 20 counties, including the likes of Kerry, Galway, Tyrone and Mayo, that the matter will be debated at their conventions later this year.
Connellan says the motion, if passed at Congress, would bring about a reduction of €2.2m in Dublin’s funding over the next five years.
He points out that Dublin GAA received €20,006,033 in total coaching and development funding for the period of 2007 to 2020, while in the same period Galway, for example, received only received €1,309,339, Westmeath €1,1591,351 and Cavan €985,034.
Connellan commented: “Since we wrote to every club and county board in early January for support for our motion – which will provide a fair level of funding to counties outside of Dublin – we have received incredible support.
“Clubs up and down the country have debated this motion at their club executive meetings and AGMs, and it has stoked up strong feelings of unfairness, mainly about the disproportionate funding that Dublin has been given.
“We also have had county boards in contact, in full support of the motion, and they are happy that their clubs are stepping up in bringing the debate to their county conventions. We expect that further clubs and counties will be in contact to also debate our motion.
“Dublin GAA County Board and many of its clubs are now, quite clearly, self-sufficient, with no need for this additional funding from Croke Park. In recently published accounts for Dublin county board before Covid, they had returned a surplus of €2.7 million, and some of their clubs are regularly taking in membership incomes in excess of €500,000.
“Croke Park needs to dramatically reduce Dublin GAA funding, with immediate effect, but the share of funding actually increased last year, from a 16% share of total grants in 2019 to a 24% share in 2020, after years of the Ard Stiúrthóir, Tom Ryan, stating that Dublin’s share would be reduced.”
The Athlone clubman first raised his voice on the funding debacle in November when writing an open letter after Dublin annihilated Meath in the Leinster football final to claim their 15th provincial title in 16 years before going on to win a record-breaking sixth All-Ireland in succession.
“Drastic action is now needed to save not just the Leinster Football Championship but the All-Ireland Football Championship,” he insisted.
“This head-in-the-sand approach from the mainly Dublin-based GAA officials in Croke Park is very unhelpful. There have been repeated attempts to put soundbites out there that it is all in hand, but it is all talk.
“Going by our interactions across the country, it’s clear no one believes a word that is being said.”
Connellan explained that there has been “initial engagement” with Ryan on the motion but that he and his team have been “waiting over three months for basic data to be sent through”.
He added: “We are happy to engage with them on every level in the interests of clubs and counties outside of Dublin, but we want action and not to be part of any talking shop, as has been the case for many years for similar forums.
“It is our intention to publish further findings and calculations in the coming weeks, and these will further highlight the imbalance, by every metric, Dublin have.
“This will ensure we build even more support for our campaign to have Dublin GAA’s unfair funding advantage addressed.”
