COUNCILLOR MARTIN HARLEY has expressed his delight after Donegal County Council passed a motion to grant Finn Harps €20,000, seemingly securing their future as a club, it has been announced.
The motion, tabled by Harley and seconded by Barry O’Neill, received unanimous backing, and will go some way towards securing the €48,000 needed to be be raised before December 21 to prevent the club from going out of business.
Speaking to TheScore.ie, Harley said that it was an important step to secure future of the club.
The councillor acknowledged that it was a “difficult decision in the current circumstances” and that “it wasn’t going to wash with a lot of people”.However, he described how the “bigger picture” needed to be looked at, and emphasised that the decision was beneficial not just for the club but for “the community”.
He pointed to the club’s work with several schools and involvement in road safety initiatives as examples of its wider role within the Donegal community.
While he urged caution by noting that it was only “one step” towards securing the overall funds required to ensure the club’s survival, he explained that there was “fundraising going on all the time” and said he was “more than optimistic” that the club would survive.
As a fan of the League of Ireland I am delighted with this, however this is not the first time Finn Harps have been down this road, they now need to put a suitable business pan together in order to run the club with in its mean, unfortunately that may mean reducing the players and managers budget dramatically. I think Monaghan Utd may be actually the only team in the league that live within their means
As for the could of been spent on other causes, I am not 100% sure but is there not money set aside for different departments i.e. Roads, Sport & Reconciliation etc., etc.
From what I gather this was a special one off payment. They should have just burnt the money at least they’d have got some warmth off it! Just delaying the inevitable, Finn Harps is not sustainable as a business.
As for the plans for a 5,000 seater stadium in Ballybofey??! Pfft!
Disgraceful waste of taxpayers money! The roads are in sh*te and the council don’t have enough money to fix bloody potholes, yet they have 20K to waste on a completely unsustainable business. How beneficial to the local community is 100-200 people turning up to Finn Park every couple of weeks for a few months a year!?!