JP McManus to donate 1 million to each county. Greatest gesture in the GAA ever? What's your take?

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121503837#Comment_121503837

I'm in about 3 threads on the entire board, but you are upset so lets not have any pesky facts get in the way.

evolvingtipperary101

The GAA are to receive €625,000 from the Dormant Accounts Funding as Sport Ireland announced a spending package of €6.4m allocated by the Government for 2023.

The Dormant Accounts Funding allows unclaimed funds from accounts in credit institutions in Ireland to be utilised for projects focused on overcoming the barriers and challenges to participation in sport for those in diverse communities of gender, disability, sexual orientation, socio-economic background or ethnicity.

A dormant account is deemed to be an account that has shown no activity for 15 years.

This year's package for sport totals €6,416,500 and from it, funding will be provided to 40 different sporting bodies.

This is the second round of Dormant Accounts Funding allocated to sport this year, following an earlier investment package of €4.86 million, allocated for Local Sports Partnerships and Active Disability Ireland.

A dedicated €2.2m Local Disability Sports Fund has been put in place to fund local disability initiatives, while €1.7m will go towards Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Fund. Meanwhile a total of €575,000 has been provided to support initiatives to increase walking, running, swimming and cycling.

In terms of the sporting bodies, the GAA come out on top, receiving a total of €625,000 in funding. Of that total €430,000 will go towards local disability sport, €100,000 towards equality, diversity and inclusion, while there is €55,000 for volunteer supports and €40,000 for the Her Moves campaign, designed to keep teenage girls in sport.

Elsewhere there is €374,500 for Athletics Ireland, €330,000 for Swim Ireland, while Irish Sailing will receive €323,000 and Cricket Ireland will get €307,500.

The FAI have been granted €280,000, all of which will go towards local disability sport.

Chief Executive of Sport Ireland, Dr Úna May, welcomed the announcement and said: "Dormant Accounts Funding enables Sport Ireland to further support the sports sector through our National Governing Bodies, funded bodies and our network of Local Sports Partnerships to deliver equal opportunities for everyone to avail of the lifelong benefits of sport and physical activity."

Runster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121503902#Comment_121503902

You never shut up whining. If you're not whining about not getting sleep, you're whining about the fecky price of Dublin marathon for pages and pages and if you're not doing that then you're hopping on threads whining about womens rights. You're an irritable, cranky middle aged aul fella.

coolshannagh28

JP is playing the cute hoor ; he spends the maximum time possible in Ireland but uses the tax system to minimise tax paid on his large income. He distributes largesse in a very popular sport and probably feels the better for it , a majority of people seem to support his position and that I'd imagine is good enough justification for him .

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121504013#Comment_121504013

Cute hoor or not, his method of donating money into Irish community seems to be more beneficial and impactful than the ten million or so that Denis O Brien invested into Irish soccer.

Not saying one is 'better' than the other but I don't see why people supporting his position makes any difference to him.

Again, Irish sport in general at the grassroots isn't as well supported as it should from a State financial perspective so any donations into that level are obviously gonna have more of a direct impact.

paddyisreal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121503121#Comment_121503121

How , please explain?

Shank Williams

People are cheaply bought- cute stuff from JP

chases0102

Joe Brolly’s article very sanctimonious in Indo.

incidentally does he live in ROI?

mountai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121505489#Comment_121505489

He speaks the truth , irrespective of where he livs.

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121503693#Comment_121503693

Agree what your saying here, it’s going to the grass roots of the Gaa and this is where it will do good, every club has something that this money can do for them, and for me that the four games get the money evenly which is a great thumbs up to what is being done on the ground level. My club started ladies football in 2017 at underage and has grown to a huge thing and this year there was a start up of a fun game for mothers and others. For me JP has shown how the gaa is loved by people for enjoyment.

Tombo2001

I actually - the more I think of it - think the GAA should turn this down.

Firstly, its a PR stunt - if it isnt when why is the whole country talking about it.

Second, Dick Clerkin makes a point very well this morning about the value of volunteerism in the GAA, which absolutely dwarfs whatever McManus is contributing. But its JP who is the great lad altogether - greatest gesture in history of the gaa.

Third, for all the publicity he is getting from it; I think it will make feck all all difference. In Kerry for example it amounts to €8k per club - it will pay for a bit of gym equipment, not much more.

Fourth, accepting it for me is a way of supporting or endorsing his tax avoidance, which I absolutely dont.

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121522224#Comment_121522224

I've been thinking more about this.

It's not a correct comparison. This is a gesture from McManus and people are trying to compare it to a life's work. There's no comparison, a life's dedication is always more important. But a life's work is not a gesture. It's something else entirely. Not a fair comparison at all.

As JP himself said, 'It's easy to write a cheque.'

But I don't know how easy it is to write 32, 1 million euro, cheques. I don't think there's many people who know what that's like.

JP McManus is mentioned on all media platforms every time a horse of his runs or wins - and that's pretty frequent (Or Limerick win). Not to mention his golf tournaments. JP doesn't need any publicity. You couldn't buy the publicity he already gets. He's a household name in Ireland and anywhere horse racing is big. He doesn't gain much at all from his GAA funding in comparison to other things he does - it's way smaller than horse racing or golf. It's just a passionate hobby of his.

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121522224#Comment_121522224

I'd say the gaa are feeling undermined here 😂

NJSC1980

LOL at the notion of McManus doing this for PR reasons. If you think he gives a flying fcuk what you, I or anyone else outside his inner circle thinks then you’re in need of a reality check.

bucketybuck

He could easily have had his charitable foundation make arrangements with either the GAA centrally or the clubs individually to process these donations quietly and efficiently.

Instead, he wrote big cheques out to the county boards. That just happened to get shown to the media.

Like I said earlier, it is the billionaire equivalent of buying everybody in the bar a drink, then standing there saying "Sure tis nothing, don't be mentioning it, sure tis only a few drinks". Humblebragging nonsense that fools nobody.

The people who think ego wasn't a factor there are being terribly niave.

PeggyShippen

Joe Brolly's article was terrible. He's a wannabe socialist and his Republicanism is so off putting for many. Thinks Northern Irish Republicans are more Irish than the 'actual' Irish.

Jp's generous donations should be a template . Our tax is wasted by government on unelelected NGOs .

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121522224#Comment_121522224

The whole country is talking about it because an individual gave 32m, unsolicited, to be shared among all GAA clubs in the country.

Turn it down? Give your head a wobble, the clubs just barely scraping by, and who really appreciate the difference that money will make, would think the GAA hierarchy are lunatics.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121523143#Comment_121523143

Not saying its a small amount of money, but when spread across every club in Ireland I think it will make very little difference.

Yeah I would turn it down. And thats coming from someone whose done decades of volunteering at the local club. Dont like this at all.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121523095#Comment_121523095

Thats what it comes down to in the end.

People who are anti-establishment think that JP is a great lad altogether for gaming the system and then picking out pet projects to showcase his 'generosity'.

People who are pro-establishment believe the really generous thing to do, or just right thing to do, would be to pay tax here.

I am in the second category.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121522966#Comment_121522966

100% - the same humble lad who hates the limelight but sits right behind where the cup is handed out in Croke Park and always manages to be in a photo with Tiger Woods.

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121525629#Comment_121525629

We have reached peak stupidity when an amateur sports organisation declines a 32m gift from a sports mad, Irish benefactor.

This money is going to make a huge difference to our local club who are fundraising to improve dressing room facilities, how do I know this? The club chairman told me it will make a huge difference to the club.

NJSC1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121523095#Comment_121523095

Don't mind Brolly.

The Joe Brolly process;

Step 1; say something controversial for the sake of it.

Did step 1 get him in hot water? If Yes, proceed to 'Step 2', if No, repeat 'Step 1'.

Step 2; Remind everyone once again that you once donated a kidney. Once heat dies down, repeat 'Step 1'.

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121525629#Comment_121525629

There's no way in the world any club would turn this down. Or indeed no reason as to why any club would find a reason to turn it down.

The bigger counties clubs obviously won't benefit as much but in Galway I think the figure is about 6k. It can take a lot of fundraising to raise that kind of money.

BaywatchHQ

How much money would he have anyway? I don't know much about him. Would donating 32 million for him be like the average person donating 100 grand?

I heard that the owner of a fuel company is the one paying Mickey Harte's wages in Derry but that may just be a rumour.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121526356#Comment_121526356

For billionaires like that, donating money to charity is like a farmer buying farm equipment because if he doesn't, the money will go to the taxman instead. Its a tax write off. Its good for him, good for the guy selling farm equipment, bad for the taxman but who cares.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121526151#Comment_121526151

There is no reason to turn it down. If the guy wants to pick somebody to benefit from this sort of thing then the clubs should absolutely take it and run. It is going to go somewhere, may as well be the clubs.

I have no issue with it happening, I just don't want to be told that a billionaires tax write-off is the greatest gesture in the history of the GAA.

thefa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121526404#Comment_121526404

That doesn’t make any sense. Farmer is buying an asset for a business and you’re comparing it to getting goodwill/publicity for a tax exempt charitable foundation.

Also, capital expenses like farming equipment get written off over a number of years for tax profit (usually 8 years) so not usually deductible in one go. Would need to spend a multiple of what you’re trying to save so a bit more planning to it.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121526758#Comment_121526758

It does make sense, thats why they do it. Unless you want to claim that they don't.

thefa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121526814#Comment_121526814

Don’t need to claim, I know.

To illustrate, the “Current Year Claim” column shows the 12.5% capital allowances against these 4 assets bought in 2018 in the 2018 farm’s accounts from the family farm;

There’s way of managing the tax bill better but, as I said, there’s a bit more planning to it and a poor comparison to JP’s €32m.

crusd

Great gesture, but talking to a few over the Christmas, I cant help but feel it would have been better off put in a fund to be administered and distributed to specific project applications rather than across the board payment.

For many clubs this will just land in the accounts and fill an existing hole rather than fund growth. Poor administration in some clubs will spend it on vanity projects with no long term benefit to the club or community. And for some clubs it will make fundraising in the community more difficult - "sure haven't they got JP's money now", when in reality it will only cover a fraction of operating costs.

If clubs were asked to submit applications for specific projects I feel it could leave a longer lasting dividend.