Christmas came early for GAA clubs across the island yesterday when it was announced that J.P McManus had given each of the county boards €1 million.
The money will go straight to clubs rather than into any central county board pot and therefore directly into the day to day running of the more than 2,200 clubs registered with the GAA.
The funds donated by McManus will be distributed equally among the clubs in each of the counties, which will mean that clubs in the smaller counties with the least number of clubs will benefit most.
A club in Carlow will get more than €20,000 whereas a Dublin club will get over €4,000. Nor will they have to wait long, as the money will be distributed before the end of January next. For smaller clubs, the money is far in excess than they might expect to get from any other source.
So, nobody is quibbling. Except that they are. Most public representatives were smart enough either to welcome the donation given that it will benefit hundreds of thousands of voters and their families.
Not so Social Democrat TD for Wicklow, Jennifer Whitmore who took to the Twittersphere to snark.
The reaction to that was perhaps, outside of the rarefied circles in which Social Democrat members reside, not what she expected. She certainly had better hope that, the next time out, she is not dependent on transfers from any of the “gah” members in Wicklow itself whose clubs will benefit to the tune of almost €14,000 each.
Communist councillor Madeline Johansson probably thought she was being all revolutionary socialist and all in tweeting that JP should pay his fkn taxes, but later took umbrage at how seemingly unpopular that was when returning from a hard day’s work, at ….. “pro-Palestinian activism.”
Tan football entrepreneur Daniel Lambert, an official of a club which would most likely not exist were it not for the generosity, unsolicited of the people of Dublin and whose own party, sorry club, Bohemians was happy to take sponsorship from a build to rent property developer MM Capital, was likewise displeased.
It might not be fashionable to say, but most Irish people appear to appreciate the generosity of a very wealthy man who has donated huge amounts of money, not only to the GAA but into other worthwhile projects in his native Limerick and other counties, including local hospitals.
It is also the case that the antipathy of the more deracinated sections of the Left to JP – and indeed “the gah” – is in marked contrast to their own ties to billionaires.
There is not one left-liberal NGO, as far as I’m aware, which has not benefited from the generosity of Atlantic Foundation and others. Not one. Sinn Féin also benefitted handsomely from the generosity of Chuck Feeney, and at least one other randomer millionaire.
The Irish liberal left have accepted millions and millions of dollars and any other currency going to fund what many might consider an assault on the communities that appear to be valued by the McManus family.
In any event, if the response from within those communities is any indication JP has won the interweb more convincingly than Limerick completed their four-in-a-row All-Irelands or Istabraq, in the colours of Ahane GAA, won his third Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2000. Making a few of us, including JP, a nice few pounds better off.
An impromptu poll hosted by John McGuirk of this parish is possibly a good enough indication of what most people think about it all.
Asked whether it would be preferable had JP given the money to our politicians to spend as they saw fit, 80% of respondents seemed pretty clear that it would not be. Not a scientific result, but might be reflective of the general consensus.
Former Laois footballer Wooly Parkinson spoke for many of us – including his beloved non Parnellite Dubs – and I shall leave the last word with him.
