Declan Bogue

ASK ONE COUNTY board administrator his thoughts on the impending tax checks that the Revenue Commissioners are going to be placing on county boards, and he furnishes us with several concerns and examples, before frustration reaches boiling point.

“How big is it? It’s massive,” he exclaims.

“And the warnings have been coming. This isn’t something new. Revenue have been warning for years that it’s coming.”

On Tuesday, county chairpersons, secretaries and treasurers have been invited to join an online meeting with Croke Park officials to get a sense of what the impending reviews have in store.

In the last week, both Galway and Mayo have stated they will not sign off on their 2024 accounts while they are still in engagement with Revenue. So far, Revenue have not accepted the €119,778 figure that Mayo voluntarily disclosed around Cúl Camp coaches in 2018 and 2019. Galway also have concerns around the same two years while Wexford have made a voluntary disclosure of €55,000 under the heading of team administration.

It is impossible to know how many of the 26 counties in the Republic of Ireland will be investigated, or if there is any appetite in the north to pry into matters relating to the six counties. 

The scope of investigations is believed to be both forensic and wide-ranging and has the capacity to change and alter the path the GAA is on.

With jarring symmetry, this comes soon after the report published by Sheffield Hallam University in late November that put the ‘social value of Gaelic games activity’ within Irish life at €2.87 billion.

The 42 spoke to two county board officers. Understandably both insisted on anonymity, but both spelled out the predicament facing county boards now.

One explained it in these terms: “The Revenue are going to look over a couple of years. Maybe back to 2019, pre-Covid, we would have taken cash [at the gate]. Managers would have been receiving cash payments.

“Certain people will be worried. They would have gotten cash payments, mileage, and yet they might have drove a company car and had a fuel card. So Revenue then don’t allow you to claim double on mileage.”

In such a situation, the official explained, an individual might be deemed to have a tax liability.

“If a person was rewarded with a holiday, you are only allowed to gift them so much in voucher format for a holiday. You are not allowed to book and pay for a holiday for them. You must follow the Revenue guidelines on that as well. Otherwise this would be seen as a gift that should be declared to Revenue.”

It gets deeper than that. County officers and their travel expenses will be scrutinised, while another real fear is how it might impact upon referees.

“They are on a set fee, but they should be on mileage,” said one source.

“So a referee that travels six miles down to road to referee and gets €40 is only entitled to maybe 70 cent a mile. But a referee won’t come in and referee a match for €4.

“The knock-on effect is who is paying the refs? The clubs are paying the refs. So they are not complying with Revenue.

“Clubs may end up being audited because of discrepancies in payments to people. And that’s where the headache is going to begin.

“If the Revenue come in to do an audit on you, by f**k you are going to have to have everything in order.”

There may well be some ugly headlines ahead. The old system of taking cash at a gate was always open to abuse. Since the GAA insisted on online payments, it has thrown up some alarming figures.

“Put it this way, I believe that some counties were up by 30% when they moved to online sales. Not every county does that. Don’t just think about today, think six years ago,” he said.

“But there is still cash coming in with half-time draws and programme sales, so there is cash coming.”

Donall Farmer / INPHO Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO

Another figure we spoke to is a current county board chairman. He made the point that the general public might be inclined to believe that high-profile managers might be the focus of such investigations, but instead it would form a fraction of any review.

“It’s a real worrying time for county boards because 90% of them are already maxed out as it is,” he said.

“The GAA organisation has been built on volunteerism, and this changes the direction of that completely, when there is a Revenue inspection. It is a very concerning time for everybody involved.

“The end result could bring a more positive outcome or it might sort things out eventually if there are proper controls over the finances. That would be the hope, but it going to come at a cost.”

He continued, “One thing it is definitely going to do is make it harder to get volunteers.

“We have a lot of self-employed people in the GAA carrying out all sorts of roles. But if they are going to be subjected to it in a volunteer capacity, in their hobbies, their sport, it will change the whole dynamics of it and they are not going to get involved.

“We pay our referees, and it’s a small fee and it doesn’t cover their expenses. Don’t forget we have umpires and linesmen that don’t get anything. If I was a referee getting a small fee, and the risk is I would get abused or my kids would be abused in school over controversial decisions, I am going to think twice about it if I am going to have the Revenue coming down on top of me as well.”

In his experience when it comes to management appointments, he is aware of talk in his own county of some club managers being paid more than the actual county manager, and warns of the possibility of sponsorship being curtailed and the inevitable reluctance of people willing to get involved in coaching and management.

“Jarlath (Burns, GAA President) has floated the idea of having managers on contracts. Fair enough, maybe that’s the right way to go.

“But straight away the GPA came in and backed that. And why did they back it? Because they can see the players going on contracts.

“Where does the amateur status go then? It’s gone, like. Despite the GAA portraying itself as an amateur organisation, I think that status is up in the air now.

“Once you start a contract, the whole thing changes overnight. Once you make an exception for managers, then the players are next. So where is the GAA in ten years’ time? Nobody is asking that question.”

That very question will be coming into sharp focus very soon.