An extraordinary general meeting of Roscommon GAA Board is to be held after delegates were last night told the board is over €1.5 million in debt. Over 90 people from the county's 30 clubs attended last night's meeting, where it was revealed the board owe almost €440,000 for the development of an all-weather, floodlit pitch on the grounds of Kilbride GAA Club.
The Connacht GAA Council are also owed €426,000 which is believed to relate mainly to sales of tickets for big games in Connacht last year and insurance premiums due to the council.
The state of the board's affairs have been a major talking-point within the county in recent weeks, and one delegate - John Carty of St Aidan's Club - claimed the figures presented to last year's board convention were "an absolute farce". There were no full explanations as to why the figures produced at the end of last year showed the board's finances to be in a healthy state.
It emerged the board owes €388,000 on the Kilbride development in bank overdrafts, and in the form of a loan from Seán Mulryan the successful property developer who is a sponsor of Roscommon GAA. Mulryan is owed €200,000 on that loan. The main contractor on the pitch - Haffey Construction Ltd - is owed €51,000.
Frank Dennehy, the board secretary, pointed out a number of figures were presented inaccurately at the close of last year. He said last night's meeting was not to apportion blame, but to chart a way forward.
One delegate said there was "a general mistrust" among members of the public and advised that support would be withdrawn for fund-raisers such as the county board lotto.
County board chairman Stephen Banahan accepted there was concern, but emphasised there should be no suggestion of "mistrust" of any of the people on the executive, or previous members of the executive.
Players are currently owed almost €32,000 in expenses, and apart from the various loans and overdrafts, the board has creditors totalling €610,000. Travel expenses to the tune of almost €32,000 are also due.
The board is expected to enter into a 15-year loan to repay its debts, but this has to be ratified by Croke Park and the Connacht Council first. Four financial institutions were invited to tender for the loan, and terms have been agreed with one.There is speculation the deeds of the county grounds - Dr Hyde Park - may be sought by the financial institution forwarding the loan to take Roscommon out of this mess. However, the county board does not own the grounds - it is the property of a Dr Hyde Park committee who may be reluctant to hand over the deeds.
There was no date set for the egm, but Dennehy said it would come inside the next three or four weeks.
