Westmeath GAA's €150,000 revenue settlement setback

Westmeath GAA is recording a surplus of over €300,000 following one of their most successful years ever on the fundraising front.

However, similar to other counties, Westmeath has planned for a settlement of €150,000 to Revenue which is a financial setback for the organisation.

Outgoing chairman, Frank Mescall, whose five-year term expired on Wednesday, while pleased with the positive financial position, acknowledged the Revenue bill is a blow and stressed if the county is to realise the dream of a new Centre Of Excellence, bigger fundraising initiatives will need to be embraced. In total, €487,000 was raised in the past year.

“It’s a positive position, overall. We took €480,000 in the Win a Home in Spain fundraiser. We are delighted to be up, but we should be up a lot more,” he remarked.

Asked about the issue with Revenue, the outgoing chairman confirmed it relates to payments to managers and backroom team members over the years. It’s a cause for concern in a lot of counties.

“It’s serious. We had to dip into our finances because of the Revenue situation,” he explained.

“We are average in what we owe. Half of the countries owe more than us; Kilkenny are the only county which is revenue free. Revenue took a significant sum back from us and we have to show that in the accounts.

“It’s over four years since the audit was carried out. We have made a voluntary declaration; every county in Ireland has done the same. It’s in relation to payments to managers and coaches. We couldn’t show travel expenses for them - all the other counties are the same.”

He feels Westmeath GAA will face challenges with this issue in future years.

“It has ongoing implications for the GAA. The horse of paying managers left the stable years ago and we are not going to get it back,” commented Mescall.

“The amateur status report is coming back, but whether they can do anything about the revenue issue remains to be seen.”

Head of Operations, Patrick Doherty expressed concern in his report to Wednesday’s County Convention.

“Our accounts include a contingency of €150,000 for taxation. Our net 'trading' position this year is, in fact, a deficit of circa €35,000. The position, therefore, continues to be very challenging and, I would suggest, that a long-term, ongoing fund-raising stream will need to be put in place to nullify these types of deficits,” he states.

“We made a self-declaration to Revenue for tax (2021 to 2024). Later in the year this was extended to include 2025 and a provision for tax for the five years has been included in the 2025 financial statements.”

Westmeath turned around a deficit of €66,000 in 2024, but there will need to be a renewed effort from all stakeholders due to the serious costs that are pending, the new training centre estimated to cost somewhere between €15m and €20m.

“The positive financial position is great, but for what we are facing, it’s not near enough. There will need to be a phased development of our new home (Centre Of Excellence): we will get €200,000 from Leinster Council, but we are facing a situation where we will have to borrow. We have €900,000 to pay off on the site; we were aiming for a better return on the big draw because of that,” Mr Mescall explained.

“We submitted a budget to Croke Park and said we would make over €800,000 on the Win and Home In Spain, but we are on the backfoot with them. I still think we will get the backing from them, but I would rather we met that target.”

Westmeath’s total income was €2,694,000, but expenditure has increased to €2,390,000 (from €2,187,000 in 2024). The county spent €1,288,000 on county teams, covering the costs of management and backroom teams. They have kept things reasonably in check - the previous year’s cost was €1,263,000 - but costs are still posing a massive challenge.

Team managers and selectors cost €197,000 - €93,000 of which was for football - while backroom teams set the county back €134,000 (football being the bigger of the two at €57,000). Expense for player mileage decreased by around €40,000 this year.

Gate receipts were just shy of €50,000, a big increase on last year’s figure, with replays in the senior hurling final and senior ‘B’ hurling decider a definite boost. Commercial income increased by €60,000 (to €360,554), while income from the various GAA bodies also rose by around €50,000 (to €849,000). Sponsorship is €297,000.

Club Iarmhí, the supporters’ group behind the GAA in the county, raised almost €19,000 at their annual golf classic and have over €53,000 in the bank. They provided financial support to many clubs, scór committees and second level schools during the year.