Beara board backed by Cork County Board chairman

Ger Lane acknowledges ‘misunderstanding’ that led to confusion over terms of Beara GAA officers

BY DENIS HURLEY

CORK County Board chairman Ger Lane is optimistic that the board can work well with Beara going forward, following the resolution of a situation regarding divisional board officers’ terms.

Following meetings between Lane, county board administrator Diarmuid O’Donovan and Beara representatives, a new board for the western division was elected last week, following a mass resignation in February. 

The county board had been under the impression that some Beara officers had exceeded their maximum term, but that issue has now been clarified.

‘It came to light at the end of last year, to the county board and to our office, that some of the Beara officers had served their five-year term,’ Lane said.

‘Arising from that, they were written to by the office and informed that their terms were up. This was based on the fact that, at the Beara convention in 2012, the secretary’s report was signed by Finbarr Harrington, who was still in situ at the end of 2016.

‘As it turned out, in the convention at the end of 2011, the secretary was Donal O’Sullivan of Castletownbere and he was re-elected with Finbarr acting as assistant secretary and I think that’s where the misunderstanding arose. It was a similar situation with the treasurer position, a role now held by Danny Crowley.

‘We had two meetings with Beara, they were happy to take back their positions and the county board was happy to acknowledge that they hadn’t served their full term. Those terms are up at the end of this year.’

There will need to be a shake-up at the end of this year as terms end, and Lane is hopeful that the division can bring in new blood to keep the good work going.

‘At the meeting we attended last week, a new chairman was elected, Terence O’Shea of Glengarriff,’ the Cork chairman said.

‘They’re going to operate for the rest of this year and obviously there’ll be a convention at the end of the year, any officers that have served their five-year term will have to be replaced.

‘Overall, we’d be happy to say that there’s a very good board put in place in Beara and that we’re sorry that there was any misunderstanding. We certainly appreciate what’s going on there.

‘The five-year rule isn’t something implemented by the county board, it’s a national directive. From the board’s point of view, when we saw that the reports were signed by the same person for five years, that’s when the issue arose.

‘Come the end of the year, there’ll need to be changes and the board are happy to assist Beara in that and there are also plans for coaching assistance. 

‘There has been a lot of good to  come out of this and we thank Beara for their co-operation.’

The Beara GAA board officers for 2017 are as follows: chairman, Terence O’Shea (Glengarriff); vice chairman, Seamus Spencer (Castletownbere); secretary, Finbarr Harrington (Garnish); treasurer, Danny Crowley (Adrigole); PRO, Michael O’Neill (Garnish); and development officer, Ollie O’Sullivan (Urhan).