The finest GAA Adminsitrater in the history of the GAA 
No bank loans required for Munster’s new home
By John Fogarty
Monday, October 01, 2012
Munster GAA have succeeded in building their new, state of the art €3.5m headquarters without acquiring a bank loan.
Completed under budget, the construction of the impressive 12,000 square foot Castletroy structure, officially opened on Saturday by GAA president Liam O’Neill, didn’t interrupt the funding of clubs and counties.
With a grant from Croke Park as well as their own reserve funds contributing significantly to its building, provincial chairman Seán Walsh stressed it was of the utmost importance to him that the offices would not impact on what are essentially the council’s main contributors.
Throughout the project, 72% of revenues generated were redistributed to clubs and counties.
“It was our intention that the provision of the new headquarters would not impinge in any way with the council’s commitment to the clubs and counties of the province,” said Walsh.
"I am acutely aware that it is the county teams that generate income for the council, income that has to find its way back to the clubs and in particular to the counties that prepare the teams.
"It continues to be our commitment that the revenue generated from the games will go back to the clubs and counties in grants and coaching projects.
“We obviously have very substantial reserves but by prudent spending and putting our deputy CEO Enda McGuane on the project from start to finish we have been vigilant. We have been paying off over the last three years through our different summer campaigns and we’ll wind up drawing down about €1.2m from our reserves. The commitment we have given to the council that over 10 years the interest from the money we have invested will be put back into the fund. We didn’t borrow from the bank, we took money from our reserves and it’s going back in from the money we have invested.”
Walsh praised his predecessor Jimmy O’Gorman for having the foresight to realise the council needed a new home.
Such was the insufficient size of their previous headquarters in Rhebogue that they were forced to hire out rooms in the nearby Kilmurry Lodge Hotel on several occasions.
The new headquarters, which features three large boardrooms, also has offices for camogie, ladies football and handball.
Designed by Paddy Leyden of Leyden Hassett Associates and built by Griffin Brothers Construction, the building took just over 12 months to complete.
“We had an excellent architect on board with Paddy Leyden gave Paddy a brief but always said we wanted a place with space and light. We can be justifiably proud of what was delivered.”
[b]Munster GAA CEO Pat Fitzgerald believes the new and improved working environment will greatly assist the staff in their operations.
"For the council, this is a home for the next 50 to 100 years and is a home to be proud of. We have to remember it’s only a building so it’s given us the facility to deliver what the GAA in Munster need and we’ve no excuses now.
“We’ve good staff and we’ve brought ladies football, handball and camogie under our wing. We’ve a good relationship with them and hope to work on it from there.” 
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