GAA enjoy €8m rise in annual income

GAA/REPORT TO ANNUAL CONGRESS: The GAA's income for last year hit €25 million. This represents a substantial increase of 47 per cent on the figures for 2000. Much of the additional revenue was generated by the new All-Ireland football qualifiers and the All-Ireland quarter-finals, introduced for the first time last year and which included two replays, raked in €3.5 million of the €8 million increase.

But these replays have to be set against the fact that the figures for 2000, against which the increase was measured, included a drawn All-Ireland final and an International Rules series.

There was further good news in the revelation that, despite the considerable jump in gate receipts, the proportion of the overall income generated by commercial activity was basically unchanged at 27 per cent.

Questioned as to whether this would not create a feeling of scepticism when the GAA next pleaded inability to pay the €127 a week expenses fee being sought by the Gaelic Players' Association, GAA president Seán McCague said that the surplus was put to uses that were well documented.

"We have to ask," he said, "do we want to fritter away the money and leave the next generation to look after themselves. Unfortunately for us it's the age-old question and we don't get the answer out clearly enough. The message doesn't always get out. Our priority is that the sooner the stadium is paid for the better, but grants have also been increasing for games development."

Expenditure rose to meet the additional income with the Croke Park redevelopment grant (the sum passed on to the rebuilding project from the operating surplus) rising by around 50 per cent to €5,840,795 - the highest annual transfer to date. There was also a redistribution of over €2 million from the additional football championship revenue to all of the counties.

The balance after all such funding and disbursement was €56,090. Accounts for Croke Park itself showed the benefit of Phase Two (Canal End) having been completed with an increase of over €3 million featuring in the income for last year.

In relation to the redevelopment, Seán McCague estimated that the resale of the New Stand (Phase One) facilities in 2005 and 2010 plus an ongoing transfer rate from annual income would "scuttle the debt".

Director general Liam Mulvihill was a little more cautious, indicating that full repayment might take a few more years. At present, the GAA debt on the redevelopment stands at €50 million and it is not expected to get any bigger.

In his annual report to congress, Mulvihill cautions, in the light of the costs of servicing the debt necessitated by the rebuilding, "it may be necessary to postpone the completion of some elements (of the redevelopment) to ensure that we can meet our commitments to other projects."

There was also confirmation that the Government grant of €76 million - controversially announced on the eve of last year's congress - was being kept up to date. It is being paid in half-yearly tranches, the first of which has been paid and the second of which was expected yesterday.

In relation to the agreement with the Government last month on the question of Croke Park being put forward as a potential venue for Euro 2008, the president reiterated that no undertakings had been given about the vote on Rule 42 - which is used to prohibit the playing of soccer on GAA grounds.

"I was not in negotiation with the Government over the European Championship and did not enter into discussions over the use of Croke Park. I stated the situation as it was, that there would be a vote at congress and if Rule 42 was abolished that Central Council would consider an approach on the subject. There's no change."

Rule 42 is also within the remit of the report of the Strategic Review Committee, which recommends that Central Council take over its implementation.

The director general dwelt briefly on the SRC report and acknowledged that he had curtailed the usually expansive instincts of his annual report in deference to the number of topics raised by the strategic review.

He was critical of the fact that the proposal to divide Dublin north and south had dominated reaction to the report, adding that "we need to ensure that all its recommendations are seriously debated and analysed".

His one note of regret was that the report hadn't concentrated more on the GAA's positive aspects. "A disappointment with the document is that it doesn't assess our present standing in any depth and that it doesn't give credit for the achievements of the association.

"There is always the danger that those seeing themselves as needing to introduce change or to increase the pace of change will tend to over-criticise in the interest of making their case and that the strengths and achievements will be overlooked or taken for granted."