Mayo GAA county executive and fundraising body make peace

Peace has broken out in the long-running dispute between the Mayo GAA county executive and the fundraising body, the Mayo GAA International Supporters Foundation (MGISF), led by Tim O'Leary.

Hopes were finally realised that a change at the top after the recent county convention might create the right circumstances for the resolution of the impasse that saw the MGISF withholding funds because of alleged governance issues with Mayo GAA.

Those funds, said to be €250,000, will now be released to Mayo GAA. According to a joint statement released on Friday night, this would be “in accordance with the April 9th, 2019 email” from the MGISF to the county board, essentially specifying projects for a training facility in Mayo, a youth academy and also towards player welfare and development.

O’Leary also confirmed that a legal case against Mayo GAA had been dropped.

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In the joint statement, the parties said that: “In reaching this agreement all have accepted that the best interests of Mayo GAA had to come first so that a resolution could be found in the shortest time possible.”

Apology

Liam Moffatt, who was elected chair of Mayo GAA at last month's convention, said: "We are delighted to have reached an agreement and I would like to thank Mr O'Leary and Terry Gallagher, foundation trustee, in bringing this dispute to an end. I fully accept that Mr O'Leary's motivation, as indeed all parties' motivation, from the outset was to assist Mayo GAA and it is regrettable that relationships between Mayo GAA and the foundation deteriorated over governance concerns.

“We have outlined the financial reforms that are taking place within Mayo GAA and I have offered Mr O’Leary and his family an apology for any inappropriate and personal remarks towards him, an apology which Mr O’Leary has accepted.”

The statement goes on to add that O’Leary “also apologised for some of his own his own behaviours during the dispute”.

O’Leary concluded the statement: “I’m most grateful to the many donors who have supported the foundation and delighted to see that their donations are going to be used to help fund the development of the academy which is so important to the future development of Mayo teams.”