Croke Park review request a decision I stand by - Fergus McGee 

Departing chairman Fergus McGee signed off at Donegal GAA’s annual Convention reiterating his stance that it was the correct decision to ask Croke Park to step in and conduct an independent review. 

The report, compiled by a joint Ulster Council and Croke Park committee, eventually revealed 14 high-risk findings among its observations and recommendations, including five in the area of finance.

McGee explained that relations soured with some executive colleagues once that approach was made. 

However, McGee insists that it was the right call. But because of a subsequent breakdown in relationships, the St Eunan’s clubman said he was left with no choice but to step aside. 

“It is important that I let people know my reasons for not letting my name go forward,” he said.

“First I want to state clearly here that there were members of the Management Committee who worked with me and checked in with me on a regular basis and helped me as Cathaoirleach in any way they could.

“I found it difficult to operate as I felt I was not getting the level of cooperation and support that is required to successfully chair a Management Committee. 

“I felt there were those who took exception to the fact that I asked Croke Park for help.

“I have tried to work through many difficult meetings this year which didn’t need to be that way if everyone focussed on the issues and genuinely tried to arrive at resolutions to problems and issues with only the good of Donegal GAA at heart.

“Despite the difficulties we had, I firmly believe in the GAA and I feel respect is important.

"Everything I did or tried to do was to improve Donegal GAA I had no other agenda. I always felt I had the support of the clubs and County Committee.

“Despite the lack of cooperation from certain members of County Management, I feel I have played a small part in bringing about stability and transparency here in Donegal GAA.

“I now look forward to continuing to support Donegal in any way that I can. I wish my successor who will be appointed shortly the very best of luck and hopefully a more pleasant year than the one I had.

“I know we had two withdrawals for the position of Chairperson and both are highly experienced. 

“We will shortly have our first female, Mary Coughlan, as Chairperson of CLG Dhún na nGall. A highly experienced and competent woman and I wish her all the very best of luck.

“If there is ever anything that I can do to help, the new chairperson will only have to ask”. 

The chairman’s address in total was as follows: 

On behalf of CLG Dhún na nGall, I would like to again welcome everyone and I would like to thank those who worked, helped and supported Donegal GAA in what was a difficult year for the association in the county.

I also warmly welcome the Press and the media. It is important going forward that Donegal GAA and the local Press and Media develop and grow a good relationship in order to portray Donegal in the most positive light possible.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend condolences to all our members who lost loved ones in the past year. Ar dheis Dé go raibh anamnacha na marbh.

While it was a difficult and challenging year, I am pleased that I can report that we are in a much better place now than we were earlier in the year

There is optimism for the future and the whole county is looking forward to 2024.

Thanks to the people from the clubs and club delegates to County Committee who had words of encouragement during the most difficult months in the earlier part of the year and indeed in the very recent past. You definitely made a difference. Buíochas ó chroí

2023 will be remembered in Donegal GAA circles as a difficult year both on and off the field. I won’t sugar coat any of the difficulties which included the resignation of the Football Academy Lead in February followed by the walkout of the coaches.

In March, our senior football team Manager stepped down following a meeting with some of the senior players. An interim manager then became an urgent necessity.

Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley were appointed at very short notice to bring the team through the remainder of the league and the championship. Thanks to Karl Lacey for his work with the academy prior to his resignation.  

Hopefully Karl will work with Donegal in some capacity at some point in the future again. Thanks also to Paddy Carr, Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley and everyone else associated with the backroom team during that time.

I had meetings with Karl Lacey, Paddy Carr and Aidan O’Rourke and All these people were gentlemen of the highest order 
Results for the senior footballers seemed to reflect the doom and gloom of the other off the field issues resulting in relegation to division 2 and defeat to Down in the first round of the championship

The damaging and divisive war of words that took place and commentary on social media was unhelpful and added to the division within the county.

There were many efforts in the background to get things back on track but these all failed and I would like to thank everyone who tried to help out in any way to get a resolution through mediation.

At a special county committee meeting in March, I informed everyone that I had a meeting with the Uachtarán Larry McCarthy, Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan and Ulster Council President Ciaran McLaughlin and the outcome of this was that an independent review was to be undertaken By Central & Ulster Councils.

At the county committee meeting on the 3rd April, a senior delegation from Croke Park attended and the Ulster Council President outlined to county committee the steps that would be involved in the review which Tom Ryan stated was it was for the betterment of Donegal GAA. 

The review was carried out and a report was presented to both county management and county committee on the 6th June
A response in the commentary section of the report was submitted by county management along with four clubs who submitted commentary.

Three Interim Subcommittees were formed to work on the implementation of the recommendations of the Review in August 2023.

These Committee’s were made up of three people appointed by Croke Park and a total of eight people from Donegal GAA. 
The Donegal representation on the Steering Committee was 50% and the Donegal representation on the other two committee’s (Finance & Governance and Coaching) was 75%.

It is important to point this out as it was reported at the time that others were running the affairs of our county and this was not the case at any point during the planning and implementation of the recommendations.

Thankfully, this work is now almost concluded and it is hoped that the Interim groups that were set up to carry out this work will be stood down in the coming weeks.

During those difficult times, it is important to note that there were still many positive things happening in Donegal GAA. These included.

The U15s and U16 footballers were provided for albeit on a reduced scale. Sincere thanks to our GDM Declan Bushell, our paid coaches and those who made themselves available in a voluntary capacity who did all that was humanly possible for these young people.

I would particularly like to congratulate Declan Bushell on his recent appointment as GDM. I’m sure Declan will do a great job
The U15 and U16 footballers got their training and completed their full schedule of matches.

The U16s ended up winning the Shield in the Buncrana Cup. At U20 and U17 levels the footballers fulfilled their leagues and championships and a special thanks to Leo McLoone and Luke Barrett who managed the two teams respectively along with their dedicated backroom teams. 

The underage continued uninterrupted for the hurlers. A tremendous league campaign by the senior hurlers fell just short of promotion.
A great run in the Nickey Rackard Cup ended in a narrow defeat in the final to Wicklow in Croke Park. Great strides are being made by the hurling fraternity and the hurling officer Cormac Hartnett along with the hard working hurling committee continue to promote the most ancient of our Gaelic games.

I would like to congratulate Setanta on winning an Ulster Intermediate club championship. Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta: Rinne Naomh Muire íochtar na Rosann sar obair insan dóigh a deagair agus rith siad Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta ar na Méilte. 

Ar dtús rith siad Comórtas na Contae i mí Bealtaine agus ansin rith siad an Comórtas Náisiúnta i mí Meitheamh. 

Bhí an aimsir galánta agus thig le achán duine a bhfuil baint acu le Naomh Muire bheith fíor bhródúil as an dóigh a chuaigh a chlub agus an cheanntar i mbun oibre thar an dá deireadh seachtaine.

Le cois seo, Tá moladh mór tuillte ag an Clochán Liath agus Gaoth Dobhair a chuidigh lena gcomharsannaigh ag cuir a gcuid páirceanna ar fáil. 

Thaispeán seo chomh maith agus a thig rud a dhéanadh nuair atá achán duine ag obair le chéile.

On the Cultural side, Donegal won three of the eight Ulster titles on offer in Scór na nÓg and two out of eight Ulster titles in Scór Sinsir which demonstrated that in this area Donegal is now one of the top counties in the country. 

Míle buíochas to CLG Bun Cranncha and Lettekenny Gaels for facilitating the scór na nÓg and Scór Sinsir County finals
Great credit is due to Caitríona Sweeney and her hard working Cultural Committee. Maith sibh

Once again CLG Dhún na nGall provided Scholarships for young club members attending the various Irish language Summer Schools in the Donegal Gaeltacht.

Bhí Cúrsa Cuimhneacháin Shéamuis de Faoite ar ais sna Dúnaibh agus míle buíochas do CLG na nDúnaibh as ucht a gcuid cuidiú leis an chúrsa.

Our Health & Wellbeing Committee under the guidance of their Cathaoirleach Cora Harvey ran a successful event in conjunction with the Alzheimers Society of Ireland in the Mount Errigal Hotel. 

The title of the event was Sporting Memories and it was great to see how this sparked an interesting discussion which included people with alzheimers. 

In addition to this a number of Safe talks were coordinated, and clubs were facilitated to host Mental Health awareness evenings. Alcohol and Drugs awareness evenings took place around the county

Clubs were assisted in obtaining Healthy Club Status. Health & Wellbeing supported clubs that had to deal with critical incidents.

The GAA doesn’t get enough credit for these types of events and the work volunteers do during difficult times. We have an excellent Audit & Risk Committee with Daireen McMenamin as Cathaoirleach. This will ensure that good governance is applied in all areas in the GAA in Donegal going forward.

Our Bord na nÓg under the guidance of Jim Quinn, Sharon McGinty and a dedicated Committee did sterling work all year
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.

I would like to thank Pat Walsh for his work all year as administrator of the referees. We can’t have games without referees and I would appeal to all clubs to work on getting at least two referees active in the coming year.

Convoy is now fully up and running and the work that Charlie Kerr does to ensure that slots are available for all our teams is time consuming and requires careful planning.

In addition to this Charlie works tirelessly to ensure that the facilities at Convoy are maintained to the highest standard.

He receives great help from the Ground Staff, Planning Committee and all the other volunteers who help out. Míle buíochas Charlie and you will be missed.

MacCumhaill Park is the main County Ground and we have had a number of 3+3 meetings with the main Officers of the MacCumhaills Club this year. 

This helps in ensuring that everyone is working closely with each other to ensure that our main county ground is always looking its best.

Páirc Uí Dhomhnaill in Letterkenny is always available for big games and is always in great shape. Fr. Tierney Park in Ballyshannon is now back up and running so we have no shortage of good grounds in the county.

It is important to thank all the clubs that helped this year in hosting big matches and helping out when we were under pressure in Convoy for space for training. I’m not going to mention any by name. 

Suffice to say Míle Buíochas to all these clubs and congratulations on the pride you show which drives the standards going forward.

Child welfare and child safeguarding are of paramount importance and thanks to Mick McGrath and the childrens officers in all the clubs for their work in this most important area. I wish Emelyn Hughes all the best in the coming year

Adult protection is something that is fast becoming a requirement in the GAA. The White Ribbon Pledge is something we will hear more about in the coming year. 

It is therefore important that in addition to maintaining high standards in Child Protection that we promote adult protection.

Thanks to Edward Molloy and his dedicated team of Stewards who are on duty at all big matches and some also represent the county in Ulster fixtures Thanks to everyone who helps out on match days at gates Our Masters football team performed well all year and represented the county with pride.

Enda Bonner and Eilish Rush provide a service to Donegal GAA that is essential. This work which goes on in the background is time consuming and requires diligent people. 

I am not going to talk about the work of the members of the Management Committee as they have all provided reports 
I would like to thank all my fellow officers and the Administrator for their work all year. I wish those who are finishing up here today the best of luck for the future.

I would like to thank all the sub-committees as all their work in the background is vital. These include the Competitions Control Committee,  Fixtures Analysts,The County Teams’ Management & Panels Sub-Committee,Planning Physical Development & Safety Committee, Referees Administration Committee, Coaching & Games Development Committee, Health & Wellbeing Committee, Audit & Risk Committee,Cultural Committee, Hearings Committee, the Finance and the Fundraising Committees, Coiste na nÓg, Coiste na nÓg CCC, the Southern, Northern and Inis Eoghain Divisional Boards, The Post Primary Schools Committee, Cumann na mBunscoil, the County Hearings Committee (Child Welfare), The County Determining Committee
The Donegal GAA Centre Management Committee.

The number of people involved in these committees is too much to mention individually so I say Buíochas ó Chroí to all of these volunteers who give of their time to what can be difficult tasks on some occasions.

Míle Buíochas also to all our Team Managers, Coaches, Medics, Stats people and all who helped out all year in backroom teams in both Hurling and Football at all levels from Senior to Underage.

Our Sponsors are very important and their loyalty cannot be questioned as they stayed with us this year when the name of CLG Dhún na nGall was not at a great place.

Our main sponsors include O’Neills, Circet, Abbey Hotel, Pod-Trak, the ATU, Michael Murphy Sport & Leisure, Global Hydrate 
Next year we’ll also have MCR on the jersey.

In addition to this we have many other sponsors for our championships and leagues.

I want to particularly mention Donagh Kelly who rang me back in March to say he would stay with us for another year. 
This meant a great deal at that particularly difficult time.

Despite the difficulties of the GAA in Donegal which were portrayed on the local and National stage, our sponsors stayed with us and their reason for this is that they care deeply about Donegal.

For this we say Míle Buíochas. Our club delegates deserve a special word of thanks. 

This year we had 16 or 17 County Committee meetings. 

The club delegates who attend regularly ensure that the County Board in its entirety is available to advise and vote on major decisions.

Some people outside of the GAA and indeed some within seem to be of the opinion that the County Board is the elected representatives on the Management Committee.

The County Board is made up of the Management Committee and the delegates of the 40 clubs in the county
County Committee is the governing body of the GAA in Donegal and not the Management Committee.

All major decisions require the agreement of County Committee and this is why attendance by delegates at County Committee meetings is so important.

Going forward it is important that we recognise that there is a requirement for Collective Discussions, Collective Responsibility and Collective Decision Making.

We had great attendances at our championship games this year in both football and hurling.
I would like to congratulate all the clubs who won league and championship titles at all levels and in all divisions and codes in 2023

Comhghairdeas to all the clubs that further progressed or completed development projects. Club facilities in Donegal are now on a par with the best in the country. 

This is down to the dedication and pride of club committees and club members throughout Donegal.
Maith sibh. Coinnigh suas an obair mhaith. The recovery begins.

Having worked our way through the difficulties of 2023, it is now important to look to the future and learn from our past mistakes.

This will ensure that we will never again have a repeat of the issues that we faced in the past 12 months. Following the exit of our senior footballers from the All Ireland series losing out to Tyrone in June, Martin McHugh made an impassioned plea on Highland Radio for all Donegal people to get together and move forward.

Martin McHughs words were followed by actions when he made himself available along with the captain of the 1992 All Ireland winning team Anthony Molloy to help out on the selection panel for a senior football team manager which also included Anthony Doogan, the rúnaí Declan Martin and myself with an experienced HR person Sandra McConnell. 

We followed an agreed process which was an approved GAA document designed for the appointment of Senior Inter-County Team managers. We were transparent in all that we done.

Thankfully, we were able to propose the name of Jim McGuinness to County Committee for ratification on the 21st August
This lifted the whole county and the mood of the people who were crying out for some positivity.

The Backroom Team that Jim McGuinness has put together is impressive and in addition to the undoubted skills they bring to the table, they all have a deep love for Donegal. 

This injection of positivity resulted in a new Finance Committee and a new Fundraising Committee who have set targets for the amount of money they feel will be required going forward.

Among their key aims they will try to get processes in place that will result in continuous year on year projects that will ensure a steady stream income for the future.

The Donegal GAA Academy will be back up and running in 2024 and will have good governance and transparency. 

There will be changes in how Donegal operates going forward and principle among the changes will hopefully be the appointment of an Operations Manager in the first quarter of 2024.

The Audit & Risk Committee will oversee all areas including Finance, Policies, Contractual agreements, etc.
These are essential new areas which will hopefully result in an increase in income and will ensure that we are fully compliant. 

Succession Planning will be important for the new Management Committee for the coming year

A Demographics Officer will need to be appointed and this is going to be vital in the efforts that will need to be made to keep our young people at home and in establishing where there are gaps in employment, housing and other areas that have the potential to negatively impact on rural clubs 

Integration is something that is talked about more and more. In Donegal we have good relations with the LGFA with some of the Officers in the LGFA also acting as Officers or County Committee members in the GAA

Camogie is making a steady comeback in Donegal and we met with the Camogie Officers earlier in the year and they also use the facilities in Convoy

Donegal is one of the counties best placed to accommodate Integration and improved gender balance

There will almost certainly be a requirement for additional playing facilities and in order to have the space for everyone 

This will require further investment and government, Croke Park and Ulster Council grant aid Many mistakes were made in the past and I have made many myself since taking the job as Cathaoirleach last December.

It is important now for everyone to move forward together. I have often said since I was appointed last year that I would like if everyone would work together and get the Good Ship Donegal as my old friend Cormac McGill used to call the county GAA back on track. 

I appeal to everyone now to put any and all differences we had behind us and work together for the good of Donegal

It was notable that the review committee that came from Croke Park and interviewed many groups and individuals said that the one common theme that came across to them was that everyone they spoke to had a deep love for Donegal regardless of their position on the issues

On the night that Jim McGuinness was appointed, our 1992 captain Anthony Molloy made an impassioned speech and called for us all to work together

Martin McHugh and Donall Barrett led out on a golf classic the likes of which we never had before in the amount of money that was raised

Our main sponsor O’Neill’s worked with us on designing a new jersey that is on the market. This new jersey with the watermark of the crest on the front will restore pride in Donegal.

Our main sponsor on the front of the jersey has stayed with us and Donagh Kelly made an inspirational speech at the golf classic in Downing in October where he highlighted how much Donegal has to be proud of and how lucky we are that we’re from here.

The MC at the Golf Classic, Conall Gallen said there were two types of people in Ireland. Those who are from Donegal and those who wish they were from Donegal.

We have a great deal of goodwill now and I firmly believe that if we can all go forward together with a positive attitude that Donegal will be back at the top table of football in the very near future and our hurlers can also rise to the next step in their development

By implementing, monitoring and progressing the actions required at our Donegal GAA Academy, we can put the building blocks in place to ensure that going forward our youth development will bear fruit.

I would like to sincerely thank all of you for having me as Cathaoirleach for the past 12 months. It was a tremendous honour and something I will forever hold dear. 

It was a very difficult time and I did the best I could and the best I knew how to get some stability restored to what was a trying time for all Gaels in Donegal

I know that not everyone agreed with my decision to call in Croke Park and I was asked how this was going to help

I firmly believe that this action was necessary, that it has produced positive results and it has helped

I firmly believe the recommendations from the Review Committee if fully implemented and developed further over time will result in Donegal GAA being in a better place

I would do the same again and I firmly believe this will prove the right decision for Donegal 

I hope I didn’t offend anyone and if I did, I wish to assure you that it was not my intention to do so. I have always felt that the GAA does great work in communities, in personal development and in creating values for our young people.

It gives us all a sense of belonging. It gives us pride in our clubs and our county of birth 

The founding fathers of the GAA back in 1884 along with The Gaelic League in 1893 began a revival which allows us to celebrate our Games, Our Culture and our Language today

These two organisations had many of the same people involved. The values of the founding fathers are my reasons for being a member of the GAA.

I have always said that County Committee is the Governing body of the GAA in Donegal and I ask delegates to please remember that today and in the coming year

I will be stepping down today from the privileged position of Cathaoirleach of CLG Dhún na nGall 

It is important that I let people know my reasons for not letting my name go forward

First I want to state clearly here that there were members of the Management Committee who worked with me and checked in with me on a regular basis and helped me as Cathaoirleach in any way they could

I found it difficult to operate as I felt I was not getting the level of cooperation and support that is required to successfully chair a Management Committee. 

I felt there were those who took exception to the fact that I asked Croke Park for help

I have tried to work through many difficult meetings this year which didn’t need to be that way if everyone focussed on the issues and genuinely tried to arrive at resolutions to problems and issues with only the good of Donegal GAA at heart

Despite the difficulties we had, I firmly believe in the GAA and I feel respect is important. Everything I did or tried to do was to improve Donegal GAA. I had no other agenda. 

I always felt I had the support of the clubs and County Committee. Despite the lack of cooperation from certain members of County Management, I feel I have played a small part in bringing about stability and transparency here in Donegal GAA
I now look forward to continuing to support Donegal in any way that I can 

I wish my successor who will be appointed shortly the very best of luck and hopefully a more pleasant year than the one I had
I know we had two withdrawals for the position of Chairperson and both are highly experienced 

We will shortly have our first female as Chairperson of CLG Dhún na nGall 

A highly experienced and competent woman and I wish her all the very best of luck

If there is ever anything that I can do to help, the new chairperson will only have to ask

To summarise where we are at now, 

Donegal GAA Academy will be up and running with good governance procedures in place in 2024
An Academy Lead will hopefully be appointed soon

We have a senior football team manager (Jim McGuinness) and backroom team that is the envy of most if not all counties

We have excellent U17 and U20 Football managers (Barry Ward and SP Barrett) and backroom teams

We have retained our senior hurling manager (Mickey McCann) and his backroom team who will target promotion and the Nickey Rackard Cup in 2024

We have dedicated managers (Adie Gaffey & Daithí Roberts) and backroom teams in place for our U17 and U20 hurlers 

We have big crowds back at our games 

The whole county is looking forward to 2024

We have fundraising up and running again led out by the golf classic

Within the county there are fundraising plans in place

Donegal people in England and the US are working on providing financial support

Donegal people in Dublin are working on fundraising ideas

Through bringing Croke Park in, We have procedures in place that will ensure good Governance 

The Croke Park Review should be concluded in January

Focal Scur

Mar fhocal scur ba mhaith liom arís buíochas a thabhairt do achán duine a chuidigh le CLG Dhún na nGall i 2023

I wish all of you, your families and club members a Happy Christmas and a bright prosperous New Year.

Le cuidiú Dé beidh muid uilig beo baitheach ag an am ciarna ar an bhliain seo chugainn.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh