government grants to GAA players -- not getting into prefessionalism etc

[AZOffaly]

I'm interested - are players based outside the 26 counties seriously going to get money from this?  Were I a taxpayer in the south, I'd be concerned that my tax was going towards paying someone who probably pays tax in another jurisdiction and does not contribute to the coffers.

I believe players in Northern Ireland and Britain (London) will get the same 'expenses'.

However, Rois, you forget that we in the GAA do not recognise the border, and we treat ye as one of us

[Rois]

However, Rois, you forget that we in the GAA do not recognise the border, and we treat ye as one of us

Oh no, I know that the GAA doesn't recognise the border (and rightly so IMO!) but as these grants won't be paid to the GAA and then over, but to individual players, to me it seems more like the government isn't recognising the border.  Just thought it might get up the noses of non-GAA members in the south.

[Croí na hÉireann]

However, Rois, you forget that we in the GAA do not recognise the border, and we treat ye as one of us

Oh no, I know that the GAA doesn't recognise the border (and rightly so IMO!) but as these grants won't be paid to the GAA and then over, but to individual players, to me it seems more like the government isn't recognising the border.  Just thought it might get up the noses of non-GAA members in the south.

As Mick Galwey said on Mon night, f**k Em! 

[cavanmaniac]

The county boards already pay the players' expenses. Now the GAA centrally is going to pay (from funds provided by the taxpayer) the players' "expenses". Does this mean that the county boards will no longer be funding the expenses? Or are we talking about other "expenses" and are the players going to be paid both sets of expenses from different sources? What are these other "expenses" that weren't being paid by the county boards? How can any player come up with a new set of vouched expenses additional to the expenses he already receives? If they're not new, why wasn't he claiming them from the county board heretofore? What will be the taxman's view of these newly discovered "expenses"? And if these are legitimate expenses, why did the GPA campaign for "grants" to be paid to inter-county players instead of concentrating on the much simpler expedient of working to ensure that their members were being paid their full and legitimate expenses by the county boards?

Can we stop this cute hoor nonsense now and quit the disedifying manoeuvring and squirming by the presidency and the executive in an effort to cover up their incompetence and weakness in being bullied by the GPA and their arrogance in trying to push this through without reference to the membership?

[believebelive]

Rois -

The document does not say who will pay the money to the players. A committee with three nominees from central council and two nominees from the GPA will be set up which will then "be responsible for the administration of the Schemes and shall determine from time to time the procedures and regulations to be followed in connection with the making and processing of applications for refunds."

I still think that it will come down finance committee's within each county board to part with the cheque so to speak.

[slow corner back]

The irish news is saying today that the new scheme replaces the current expenses paid out by county bords and will save the GAA 3.5 million in team expenses. It also says that the mileage rate goes up to the same as a civil servant from 0.50 to Euro 1.20 per mile. However it makes a point of saying that players with cars do well while those without will not be much better off. If this does end up as an improved mileage scheme and players having to provide evidence before claiming any expenses then I think it is fair enough and a million miles from pay per play or a no questions asked grant scheme.

[believebelive]

The irish news is saying today that the new scheme replaces the current expenses paid out by county bords and will save the GAA 3.5 million in team expenses. It also says that the mileage rate goes up to the same as a civil servant from 0.50 to Euro 1.20 per mile. However it makes a point of saying that players with cars do well while those without will not be much better off. If this does end up as an improved mileage scheme and players having to provide evidence before claiming any expenses then I think it is fair enough and a million miles from pay per play or a no questions asked grant scheme.

I'm afraid Paddy Heaney picked up the wrong end of the stick. County players will still get expenses of 50c per mile from the county board.

Otherwise there would be players who are worse off from the  arrangement as some players would have expenses of way over 1700 euro mark - some double it.

[slow corner back]

In that case if the players are not picking up mileage expenses what expenses are they picking up?

[believebelive]

In that case if the players are not picking up mileage expenses what expenses are they picking up?

The 64 million dollar question! As far as I know they can claim the difference between the GAA mileage rate and that of the civil service as well as other legitimate expenses.

The document which was released states that eligible expenses were  "vouched expenses (including but not limited to  appropriate mileage expenses) incurred by a player in a Relevant Year."

The initial document released last April had a list of what they could claim for, but that is nor present in this document. The answer to your question is that no-body knows what these other expenses are.

It would be a bit of a joke if after all this time and discussion the GAA turned around and said you can only claim expenses if you own a car. The GPA would go up the walls. I doubt these other legitimate expenses will ever be made public though. For one reason I don't know if anyone i Croke Park really knows what they are!

[Hound]

In that case if the players are not picking up mileage expenses what expenses are they picking up?

The 64 million dollar question! As far as I know they can claim the difference between the GAA mileage rate and that of the civil service as well as other legitimate expenses.

The document which was released states that eligible expenses were  "vouched expenses (including but not limited to  appropriate mileage expenses) incurred by a player in a Relevant Year."

The initial document released last April had a list of what they could claim for, but that is nor present in this document. The answer to your question is that no-body knows what these other expenses are.

It would be a bit of a joke if after all this time and discussion the GAA turned around and said you can only claim expenses if you own a car. The GPA would go up the walls. I doubt these other legitimate expenses will ever be made public though. For one reason I don't know if anyone i Croke Park really knows what they are!

Well said.

Its seems many contributors can't get their head around the fact that the GAA pay well under the going rate for mileage, so there is a lot of room for manouvre to get it up to the civil service rates.

But there certainly is a quesionmark over what the other eligible expenses might be, for those who don't have a car.  Or those who have sponsored cars of which I'm sure there are quite a few.

[cornafean]

Its seems many contributors can't get their head around the fact that the GAA pay well under the going rate for mileage, so there is a lot of room for manouvre to get it up to the civil service rates.

But is this really the case for most players? I'm not so sure. Certainly not if the rules governing Civil Service rates are applied strictly to players, in accordance with the Revenue Commissioners' rules.

Players at the moment get 50 cent per mile, or 31.25 cent per km.

As I said in a previous thread...

Current Civil Service rates are as follows:

Up to 6,437km -  52.16 -  78.32 cent per km
Over 6,438km   - 26.97  - 36.65 cent per km
(source Revenue.ie IT51)

They are quite generous for the first 6,437km or 4,000 miles but a lot less so thereafter.

They also DON'T apply:
- where the person has use of a company car or van from their employer
- to travel to and from home
"Where an employee proceeds on a business journey directly from home to a temporary
place of work (rather than commencing that business journey from his/her normal
place of work) or returns home directly, the business kilometres should be calculated by
reference to the lesser of -
- The distance between home and the temporary place of work or
- The distance between the normal place of work and the temporary place of work."

But there certainly is a quesionmark over  ....  those who have sponsored cars of which I'm sure there are quite a few.

See above

[Uladh]

Or those who have sponsored cars of which I'm sure there are quite a few.

Out of aproximately 2000 intercounty players, how many do you reckon are driving sponsored cars?

[cornafean]

It would be very sweet indeed if the only players not to benefit from the new Expenses Scheme are the few guys at the top of the GPA who are each driving sponsored cars!

[Hound]

Or those who have sponsored cars of which I'm sure there are quite a few.

Out of aproximately 2000 intercounty players, how many do you reckon are driving sponsored cars?

Wild guess - 20.

[AZOffaly]

Hmmm. I'd say a wild guess would be more like 40.