Why isnt this illegal?

http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/7116/

Finn Harps chairman Joey O'Leary has expressed his delight after the future of the club was effectively secured this evening - after Donegal County Council passed a motion to give the First Division club €20,000.


The council gave unanimous backing to a motion tabled by Cllr Martin Harley and seconded by Barry O'Neill for the local authority to sanction the funding to the cash-strapped club.

how do they get away with this? Giving taxpayers money away to whoever they want!

DrumSteve

Deleted User wrote: »

http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/7116/



how do they get away with this? Giving taxpayers money away to whoever they want!

Get away with what? Helping out a local team with what is effectively a pittance in terms of our overall problems?

Oranage2

You can hardly call LOI soccer!

tin79

Oranage2 wrote: »

You can hardly call LOI soccer!

You can call it football though

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Oranage2 wrote: »

You can hardly call LOI soccer!

Trolling again?

Oranage2

tin79 wrote: »

You can call it football though

Even less correct

smash

DrumSteve wrote: »

Get away with what? Helping out a local team with what is effectively a pittance in terms of our overall problems?

Because this "local support" bs for a tiny minority doesn't help out the greater population or the state of the economy.

SisterAnn

I see your issue with the arbitrary nature of it. However, it is not too difficult to make a case that the particular club in question is a key part of Donegal's sporting heritage and social fabric and as such should be preserved and invested in when in difficulty. It shouldn't come without strings attached. Guarantees should be put in place that lead to financial stability and ultimate self-reliance.

tin79

Oranage2 wrote: »

Even less correct

Association football then.

sensibleken

weh weh weh wheres my 20 grand

MagicMarker

Giving money away to save jobs?

What a fúcking travesty.

Sgt. Bilko 09

well id rather finn harps have my money than fine geal.
finn harps are actually helping people were as our government would have used that €20,000 on a Christmas party or probably bertie's mobile phone bill so I've no problem with that. Especially when you know were your money is going

Snakeblood

MagicMarker wrote: »

Giving money away to save jobs?

What a fúcking travesty.

I'm not really objecting to giving the money, but don't the players all get put on the dole at the end of the season? What jobs are being saved?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Deleted User wrote: »

http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/7116/



how do they get away with this? Giving taxpayers money away to whoever they want!

IN answer to this one, the job of the board is to help and support local community initiatives. There are probably a lot of people who get something the organisation (Finn Harps) such as youth facilities, community facilities and so on and it is in the Council's interest to keep these facilities going. All we see, on the face of it, is a football business.

Oranage2

tin79 wrote: »

Association football then.

I was thinking more heads and volleys or something along those lines.

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Trolling again?

I'm sorry Ikky have we had previous encounters?

I ask you to withdrawn your trolling comment as I've never trolled this site nd I find it offensive. If you do not withdraw then I'm afraid I'll be forced to get a Moderator involved!

Itsdacraic

Oranage2 wrote: »

You can hardly call LOI soccer!

It's called LOL soccer

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Oranage2 wrote: »

I was thinking more heads and volleys or something along those lines.





I'm sorry Ikky have we had previous encounters?

I ask you to withdrawn your trolling comment as I've never trolled this site nd I find it offensive. If you do not withdraw then I'm afraid I'll be forced to get a Moderator involved!

Well, there was this followed by this, not to mention this which may have been tongue in cheek, but then you followed it up with this...

MagicMarker

MagicMarker wrote: »

Giving money away to save jobs?

What a fúcking travesty.

well why dont we all get 20k

why are we reducing pay - shouldnt we be increasing it and reducing taxes!



http://www.corkcity.ie/news/archivednews2007/mainbody,7454,en.html

Cork City Council has lent its support to the Earthrace initiative by announcing it will be donating 1,500 litres of biodiesel to the boat currently moored at City Quarter, Lapps Quay, Cork. Delivery will be made to the boat by a local supplier, G.R.O. Oil Ltd. on Saturday, 14th July.

I want 1,500 litres of fuel! Our money is better off in our own pockets rather than giving it to these guys to pass on to whoever they feel like

What will they do with the household charge!!

Nothingbetter2d

smash wrote: »

Because this "local support" bs for a tiny minority doesn't help out the greater population or the state of the economy.

yup that €20000 could have been used to fund another junkie's methadone + prescription drugs + children's allowance for a few month. :rolleyes:

wyndham

Money well spent.

Gurgle

SisterAnn wrote: »

it is not too difficult to make a case that the particular club in question is a key part of Donegal's sporting heritage and social fabric

Absolutely, but not with taxpayers money.
Do some fundraising, have a whip-around. If its important to the Donegalese, they can put their hands in their pockets.

Oranage2

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Well, there was this followed by this, not to mention this which may have been tongue in cheek, but then you followed it up with this...

I can see a lot of people being very disappointed with your post - /there's no more trolling there than an episode of my little pony.

Anyway no ill feeling I don't hold grudges off threads, if I have a heated debate the poster is forgotten about in a new one.

smash

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

yup that €20000 could have been used to fund another junkie's methadone + prescription drugs + children's allowance for a few month. :rolleyes:

Or it could probably have funded school books for a year in local school.

Morlar

wyndham wrote: »

Money well spent.

I disagree. I think this will foster dependence. Sports teams and organisations should be self sufficient. Is this a loan ? Are they ever intending to repay it if they return to profitability ? If it was a short term emergency loan then I would not have a problem with it. Otherwise it's populist and it's also 'nice'/presumptious of the council to be so generous with taxpayers money.

wyndham

smash wrote: »

Or it could probably have funded school books for a year in local school.

Is there a local school that has been left bereft of books because of this allocation?

wyndham

Morlar wrote: »

Sports teams and organisations should be self sufficient.

Why should they be? Are there no social or societal benefits from supporting sporting organisations?

smash

wyndham wrote: »

Is there a local school that has been left bereft of books because of this allocation?

I'm talking in general.

Irish Steve

I'm not in Donegal, but I'll bet there are similar cases to mine up there.

If the local authority has €20K to spare, I will gratefully accept it being spent on measures to prevent the possibility of a repeat of the flooding that caused €120K of damage to our house a few years ago. As a result of poor planning control and other related issues, there's a man made obstruction to the clear flow of a stream that runs through our garden that backs it up during periods of heavy rain. The solution is to remove the obstruction, and €20K would do that job several times over, with change.

We were last flooded in 2002, and I'm still waiting for replies to the letters I hand delivered to the local authority. The local councillors can't get a response from the relevant departments either, despite trying more than a few times.

They can spend a fortune putting decorative planter beds in roundabouts for a 3 day golf event, but can't sort out issues that directly and significantly affect people's lives.

Wrong priorities, wrong motivation, wrong attitude, plain and simple WRONG, but people like me can't bring about the changes needed, and are unlikely to ever be able to do so.

Fear Uladh

I don't disagree with the club getting the money, which will no doubt provide jobs and future business for the county.

However as Irish Steve said, there should have been other more important issues attended to first, like flooding issues etc.

This should not have been made priority.

GLaDOS

Fear Uladh wrote: »

This should not have been made priority.

How do you know it was made priority? Harps have been in trouble for awhile now and this motion could have been sitting there for months while more important things got dealt with.

Personally I'm happy to see the money go to them.

smash

To me it wounds like they had extra cash to spend of they wouldn't get as much allocated to them next year but they should have put it to better use like the flooding prevention mentioned earlier. Or into the roads, Donegal has some roads in desperate need of repair.

wyndham

wyndham wrote: »

Why should they be? Are there no social or societal benefits from supporting sporting organisations?

Because this isnt communist China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos or Cuba

ScienceNerd

ScienceNerd wrote: »

How do you know it was made priority? Harps have been in trouble for awhile now and this motion could have been sitting there for months while more important things got dealt with.

Personally I'm happy to see the money go to them.

Its absolutely not important to fund a privately owned sports club
its bollox

L1011

Deleted User wrote: »

http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/7116/



how do they get away with this? Giving taxpayers money away to whoever they want!

Do you similarly object to the tens to hundreds of millions the GAA has milked over the years or do you only object to football teams getting money?

MYOB

MYOB wrote: »

Do you similarly object to the tens to hundreds of millions the GAA has milked over the years or do you only object to football teams getting money?

That is a huge scam too in my opinion, we shouldnt let any wrong get past us. Its how we ended up with the banks on our backs

L1011

Deleted User wrote: »

That is a huge scam too in my opinion, we shouldnt let any wrong get past us. Its how we ended up with the banks on our backs

So have you started any hysterical threads on that, then?

sock puppet

Deleted User wrote: »

That is a huge scam too in my opinion, we shouldnt let any wrong get past us. Its how we ended up with the banks on our backs

Why is it a scam? Surely getting people involved in sport is a worthy goal?

uch

Gurgle wrote: »

Absolutely, but not with taxpayers money.
Do some fundraising, have a whip-around. If its important to the Donegalese, they can put their hands in their pockets.

They Have

http://finnharps.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=656&Itemid=167

cosanostra

Finn Harps have had plenty of money pumped into them over the years and they wasted it all.

Today Donegal County Council are debating their budget and cant afford to run the counties services it should be about priorities and Finn Harps isn't a necessity and although its only 20k other things should be put first.

Phill Ewinn

Waste of money. Doesn't take a genius to work out what €20k could do and set priorities for stuff that could be done with that amount. Unless Donegal is swimming in money and jobs. This kind of crap should be bottom of the list

DEFTLEFTHAND

DrumSteve wrote: »

Get away with what? Helping out a local team with what is effectively a pittance in terms of our overall problems?

Its still needlessly wasting money though, the culture of such waste in this dam country needs to be eradicated throughout every level. Finn Harps are a private club and they'll have to pay their own way or go bust, its not the tax payers fault that Irish football fans won't support their own teams.

L1011

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Its still needlessly wasting money though, the culture of such waste in this dam country needs to be eradicated throughout every level. Finn Harps are a private club and they'll have to pay their own way or go bust, its not the tax payers fault that Irish football fans won't support their own teams.

Harps are no more a "private" entity than a local GAA club is (its a fans cooperative, similar structure to a number of other clubs), yet the latter get massive handouts year on year. My local GAA club has had its ground lighting paid for by the state, its last clubhouse extension paid for by the state, etc, etc.

SHOVELLER

Oranage2 wrote: »

I was thinking more heads and volleys or something along those lines.

Obviously you know nothing about the game.

Brave move by Donegal County Council. As pointed Harps are an important part of Donegal life. They are also employers and pay taxes.

Good to hear they are now fully compliant with licensing for next season:

http://www.finnharps.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=736:finn-harps-confirm-all-financial-and-administrative-criteria-submitted-for-2012-licensing-requiremen&catid=39:news-from-finn-park&Itemid=101