Galway GAA chairman Pat Kearney has revealed that the county board will meet with main sponsors Supermac's to deal with queries raised by the company regarding how their money has been spent.
What he described as an 'unprecedented' statement by Supermac's on Tuesday night, Kearney admitted that the county board didn't become aware of the sponsor's concerns until they appeared on social media last night.
"We were surprised with this kind of unprecedented statement," said Kearney.
"We were at a Galway GAA meeting and Michael Burke, who is our relationship manager with Supermac’s, received a call from Pat McDonagh himself.
"The Mazars report was sent to all clubs last December and the other internal audit report will be published as well. There might be some small legal restraints on that but it will be published."
Speaking with Galway Bay FM, Kearney outlined the general procedure surrounding finance in the county.
"The Galway County Board accounts are audited every year," he explained.
"The Galway GAA budget is in the region of €4.5m each year. That is transparent and audited each year.
"Last year our accounts showed we spent €1.7m on our teams. This year I would expect it to be around €1.6m.
"The accounts will close on October 31st, these accounts will be audited and they will be submitted to Connacht Council and Croke Park."
Outlining that the Galway county board had absolutely nothing to hide, Kearney declared that they will be sitting down with Supermac's in the coming days to discuss their concerns.
"Supermac’s sponsorship has made a contribution to the teams," he said.
"There is a budget there for all our teams, for training, travelling expenses, meals, professional support, overnight accommodation and so on. It’s all there for everyone to see, it was there last year and it’s there this year for anyone to see where the €1.7m is spent on our teams.
"We will be talking to our sponsor in the next few days and we will go through the figures he has given us and we will show where that is spent on the Galway county teams. I would say there is no difference between sponsoring the Galway county board and the Galway county teams. The county teams are part of the Galway county board.
"It’s the responsibility of the Galway county board to prepare our teams and Supermac’s contribution makes a substantial contribution to the preparing of our county teams. We will meet Supermac’s in the coming days and address their concerns and their questions as best we can.
"Supermac’s are a supporter of ladies Gaelic football and camogie and he’s a fantastic supporter of all things GAA in Galway, clubs and schools as well."
In an unexpected development on Tuesday evening, Supermac's shared their concerns regarding the spending of money given to Galway GAA. You can read that statement in its entirety here.
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