Nickey Brennan believes the GAA’s growing payroll risks “challenging” volunteerism in the association and requires greater scrutiny.
The former GAA president also foresees difficulties if intercounty managers are to be paid, which is one of the options being considered by the current amateur status review committee.
“I would like a leaner organisation,” he said. “I’m not against the notion at all that we need full-time people in the association to fulfil a lot of different roles, but I do believe that when that number rises, managing people on that scale is challenging and I would wonder are we getting value for the money that’s being invested.
“I saw that Micheál Martin (former Wexford chair, now leading Croke Park’s games development committee) is concerned at the decline in Government support for coaching and games development, but I don’t think we can expect the Government to be constantly putting money into that whole area.
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“I think we do need to have a slimmer and a sharper organisation to deal with that issue. I believe we have far too many employed in this area. We’ve gone to the point where, because we’re employing so many, I think we have caused part of the lessening of volunteerism because of the fact that we have brought in so many full-time people who are not being managed properly.”
The GAA has more than 300 people working in this area to promote and develop the games.
Brennan isn’t opposed to recruiting personnel but says the activities have to be monitored and assessed, pointing out that not all of the operatives are fulfilling their roles.
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“I’m saying that we want to make sure we’re getting value for money and that the people we are employing are absolutely delivering on what’s required by the association – and not on what they think they should be doing.
“It needs to be managed better and we need to have people out there, particularly at county board level, who are able to measure good delivery and value for money, because there is a fierce amount of money being put into that whole space.”
It also creates a need for a HR structure to handle all employment issues, he added.
Brennan said: “Our ability in the GAA to manage people, and then the ability of officers within counties to have the necessary skill set to deal with employment-type situations, is debatable.
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“There is some level of expertise at the provincial level, to be fair, but even in Croke Park, for all the senior positions there, we have still never appointed a director of human resources.”
He foresees complications if intercounty managers are to be employed by the GAA or placed on a formal stipend, as floated by GAA president Jarlath Burns.
“The difficulty you have there is that whether you like it or not, the people who are working very close with the manager, his coaches and others, are also putting in an enormous amount of time. So, are you only putting off the evil day when they come into the equation? They’re probably spending as much time on the job, if you could call it that, as the manager in most instances.
“Then who is going to be the arbiter of performance measurement? Who is going to have the capabilities of understanding what does performance, or what does delivery mean in the context of a Kerry or Kilkenny versus a Carlow or a Donegal hurling manager.
“So, there’s an awful lot of issues to be addressed. Who is going to adjudicate on delivering on the KPIs (key performance indicators) that were agreed? Are we going to enter into more than a yearly contract with a manager? And if you do enter more than a yearly contract with a manager, what happens if the KPIs are not delivered after the first year? Can he be sacked? Has he to be remunerated for the terms of his contract?”
Another issue that troubles the former president is the agreement with the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) that they should receive a percentage of the GAA’s commercial income.
“I have no problem with, and was always in favour of funding generously, the activities of the GPA, who I consider an important part of the association. I just feel that once you tie in a percentage of commercial income, percentages generally only go in one direction.”
