Farrell declares support for payments to GAA managers

The chairman of the Westmeath County Board has come out and said that GAA managers should be paid for their services. Speaking about the recently published GAA report concerning the payment of club and county managers, Farrell said that it was about time that the long-standing issue was discussed. "The amateur ethos of clubs and counties is not being adhered to," he said. "There will probably be rule changes to be made up the line." The Tang clubman - who told delegates at last week's county board meeting that 95 per cent of Westmeath's clubs were in breach of GAA payments rules - said that for too long the issue has been swept under the carpet. "For years there has been innuendo and remarks, and winks and nods about who was getting what. It's not just about getting clubs and counties tax compliant. It is about things being fully discussed in the open." When asked what his own views were on the potentially divisive issue were, the county board chief gave an unequivocal response. "I think that managers deserve to be recompensed beyond the 50c a mile expense payment. The hours they have started to put in over recent years is something else and other members of the backroom teams are getting paid for their time." Some commentators have voiced their fears that payments for managers will inevitably lead to payments for players, but Farrell said it was time that the organisation had an "open and honest" debate about its amateur ethos. According to reports in the national media, more than €15m is spent each year on under the counter payments to GAA managers. The recently published GAA report compiled by the organisation's director general Páraic Duffy offers members three options. The first is to continue as things are; the second is 'to implement fully the Association's existing policy, rules and guidelines on our amateur status'; and the last is to is to introduce a system of regulated payments to senior inter-county managers. Westmeath County Board has sent out copies of the report to clubs and "will listen to all views" before making a submission. Farrell stressed that any submission would feature a plurality of views rather than one official stance.