Council expect full €3.5m for players

GOVERNMENT GRANT AID: THE IRISH Sports Council remains committed to distributing the agreed €3.5 million in grant aid for GAA players by the end of the year. Despite speculation the scheme may be cut due to the Government's deepening budgetary constraints, the Sports Council is still expecting this amount to be distributed as agreed once the GAA make the actual submission for the scheme.

This process is ongoing and the Sports Council expects the GAA to make the submission within a matter of weeks, with the agreed amount in turn being distributed before the end of the year.

However, it does appear increasingly likely the scheme will experience a cut in 2009 of around eight per cent, reflecting the cut in the Sports Council's overall budget for next year.

At this stage, however, nothing about the budget for 2009 has been decided, which according to Paul McDermott of the Sports Council, includes the GAA grants scheme.

"As far as the decision for this year, the commitment of €3.5 million is still in place," said McDermott. That is not under threat.

"But we are still awaiting the paperwork from the GAA, which we know is now imminent. But one of the parameters of the grant agreement back in April was that the Sports Council didn't have the staff or the resources to administer the scheme, that essentially it would have to be done from the GAA's end.

"It starts at county level and goes to Croke Park and then comes to us. That's the process taking place now and we're waiting on the GAA to come back to us with that.

"As it stands the player grants scheme was agreed as a three-year scheme, But absolutely no decision has been made with regards to next year. Neither ourselves nor the GAA have met to discuss it so there's no point in even commenting on it at this stage."

The Sports Council overall funding for 2008 worked out at €57.631 million, while next year's figure, after the recent budget, has been set at €53 million, effectively an eight per cent cut.

It is inevitable some operations of the Sports Council will suffer, although it remains to be seen if, or by how much, the GAA grant aid will be affected.

"Clearly we will need to find savings somewhere," added McDermott. "That's the reality of it, and it's the same for every other Government department. That won't come just in terms of funding but in all other areas as well, such as anti-doping, research, and other projects."

Having battled for some four years to get the grants scheme in place, the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) are understandably wary of any potential cut.

However, in agreeing the scheme the GPA also acknowledged it will only apply as long as Government funding is available. Yet GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell, speaking earlier this week, warned of a strong resistance to anything more severe than an eight per cent cut:

"In the current climate, we realise there are hard times across the board and we will go along with that. But if the Government thinks for one moment we will tolerate a reduction of more than that, they are sorely mistaken."

Totalling up the €3.5 million package, however, as agreed by Congress back in April, is no straightforward matter.

Although based on the apparently simple basis of vouched expenses only, the actual mechanism of the scheme is based on both an annual team performance scheme and annual support scheme for the development of excellence.

The annual team performance scheme is based on team performance during the championships and will apply to the 12 football teams qualifying for the third round of the All-Ireland qualifier series or reaching a provincial final and the 12 hurling teams in the MacCarthy Cup.

The annual support scheme for the development of excellence is based on the achievement of standards and performance-based criteria designed to maintain the levels of preparation of the teams and individuals.

This scheme shall apply to teams participating in the championships, but not qualifying for the team performance scheme.

A player is entitled to claim a refund of eligible expenses in the same way he currently claims expenses from his county committee.

This will be done on a sliding scale, increasing with continuing involvement in the championship - ranging from €1,400 to €2,500.

Funding available to a squad will be based on a panel of 30 players - and will range from €42,000 to €75,000.

Meanwhile, the Dublin County Board have declined to comment on their reported approach to former Meath football manager Seán Boylan to take over the reins of Dublin hurling, but in any event his potential appointment seems like a long shot, at best.

Instead the county board have reiterated that November 17th is the targeted deadline to have the new manager in place, with a selection committee consisting of chairman Gerry Harrington, secretary John Costello, vice-chairman Danny O'Connor and Seán Shanley, the hurling delegate on management committee.