Laois GAA Finances have come under scrutiny

Missing money from the coffers dominated Monday night’s meeting of Laois County Board where delegates learned of a hole of some €40,000 in the accounts.
County board chairman Brian Allen had ordered an investigation just over two months ago after the questions were raised over the debt which appears to be linked to ticket sales of nearly €4million. Details of the subsequent probe, carried out with the help of an the board’s independent auditor, were revealed to delegates on Monday night in Portlaoise.

The investigation centred on a total of €42,321 in ticket money which had amassed by October 2004. The enquiry found that €9,961 of this was written off in 2005. A further €26,604 was written off the following year. At the same time in 2006, two loans, totalling €26,314, were also written off.

Speaking to the delegates, auditor Mr Mark Kirwan, outlined the findings. “Between 2003 and 2008 there was ticket sales of €3.8m, and a write off of €39,000, so that comes to about one ticket in 100 that was not paid for”, before going on to say “the issue is whether one ticket in 100 is acceptable.”

Tony Walsh, who was Treasurer at the time, spoke to delegates. “After a Laois v Armagh game at the end of the season we got an invoice for €18,000 from Croke Park and we couldn’t figure out why we got it. Myself and the chairman (Dick Miller) met the Finance Committee in Croke Park at the time, there was no computerization of tickets then, they came to us in a box and the people in Croke Park couldn’t prove that we had gotten those tickets, and we couldn’t prove that we hadn’t, so we agreed to pay half of the bill, which came to around €9,000,” he said.

“In 2006, we had a €26,000 deficit written off and €26,314 in two small loans down as liabilities and one deficit was put off against the other.”

Continuing, Mr Walsh said, “I’ll stand up and admit that maybe I should have told everyone about it at the time. I made one mistake and I didn’t broadcast it. I think Laois GAA clubs and gaels have gotten very good value over the years. I had a simple way of doing the accounts, what I could account for went into the accounts, and what I couldn’t didn’t go in.”

Shanahoe delegate Anthony Delaney was critical of the current vice-chairman for not making the shortfall known earlier.

“This deficit goes back to 2004/5, when people knew where was a deficit but there wasn’t any effort to convey this to the County Executive or the County Committee, and under Rule 61 all officers of the Executive come under the jurisdiction of the County Committee.

“If people were aware of the deficits and didn’t inform the committee then it’s unacceptable. It’s an extraordinary situation that there were deficits in the account and it was not reported to the Executive. There’s no excuse,” he said.

Dick Miller, who was Chairman at the time in question, came out in support of Walsh and Evelyn Dunne, the then assistant treasure and now treasurer.

“I was Chairman at the time and the first I knew of this was six weeks ago.

I had a simple philosophy when I was Chairman; I trusted people to do their job and I didn’t interfere. I have a serious problem with what’s going on here and I firmly believe that not one penny is gone, and if I thought there was at any stage I wouldn’t have tolerated it.

“I have the height of respect for the former Treasurer (Walsh) and the current Tresurer (Dunne), they were doing the job in the best time ever for Laois and we made great progress. I never got a phone call from a bank in the eight years I was there, this is some form of witch hunt and it’s better off left alone,” he said.

The issue of debt in the overdraft account was first raised by Brian Allen almost 10 weeks ago, but delegates at the meeting were upset that answers were not given then. There was also concern that note was put in the accounts at the time to explain the situation, and that the whole issue had ended in this scenario. Tony Walsh admitted it was a “mistake on my behalf I didn’t say it when I should have.”

Current Chairman Brian Allen tried to draw a line under the matter. “In the first year when the problem arose we should have put a system in place, and if we had been told of the problem it could have been sorted out, and we have to ensure it doesn’t happen again. In future if money is written off we’ll insist on an explanation, we’re handling Laois people’s money and that’s a huge responsibility.”

Development Officer Gerry Kavanagh was dissatisfied with the outcome. “We’re being asked to accept something here and I don’t accept it because it hasn’t been explained. If we think this is finished we are mistaken, this is only the start of it, until we satisfy the general public then we can’t say everything is right. I have been asking straight questions and I can’t get straight answers.” Mr Kavanagh left a county executive meeting the week before when the issue was raised.

By Rory Delaney, Leinster Express

Filed under: Laois Football, Laois Hurling, Laois Clubs, Laois County Underage, LHC, LFC