In 90% of counties, what you say would be reasonable. I live in Roscommon now and if Seamus Sweeney vacated the chair, there would be a real contest for it, from people who would actively canvass clubs, talk to the people of the county through the media, make their positions clear and have a clear agenda and ethos. However it has already been proven in Offaly that even when people step away, and there is no contest for positions, they're still not wanted. We haven't had a PRO since Kenny Franks left the role, and the absence of anyone doing the job is very keenly felt. Every other journalist I talk to can't understand why we don't have one - but we don't, and there's no sign of one coming in.llkj wrote:May I ask LS, why are you so afraid of people proposing that the current county board leadership be removed? I understand that your main point is 'show me the people that can come in and do a better job', but if the current chairman is not only not progressing things but actively regressing things (by impeding much needed work), then surely any change is likely to have somewhat of a positive or at least a 'stop the bleeding' impact?Lone Shark wrote:You realise it's entirely possible to be very disappointed with a huge number of things that have happened in recent years, many of which stem from county board mistakes/inaction, and yet be utterly terrified of the alternative that is suggested, which is pretty much thisuibhfhaili wrote: This place has always been an absolute cesspit of County Board loyalists over the ys.
My personal thought is that resignations would be very much welcome as it would help us as a county to draw a line in the sand and start the long rebuilding process at the top. This doesn't mean that all work has to come to a complete fault as we search. I'm sure an interim chairperson could oversee operations while the process of appointing a new chair was happening.
I don't know the exact processes of the GAA, but my main point is that I would not fear change in the way that you do, even if all of the answers aren't in place before the resignation happens.
Pat Cleary's term is up as coaching officer, no-one has stepped up to fill in his shoes.
Birr GAA club are at loggerheads with the county board over the SBP issue for years, and if this discussion forum is to be believed, dis-satisfaction is widespread all across, and yet there are no alternatives offering themselves from that club, or anywhere else in the area, either. If Birr wanted to tomorrow, they could fill these two positions, and have two more voices on the Coiste Bainistí. They don't - and I have to say that this worries me.
If you can say to me that there will be an interim chairperson if Tommy Byrne steps down, then that's one thing - personally I'd prefer to see who it is before declaring that it would be a better option - but at least there would be a guarantee of someone. Right now, we don't have that.
From what I can see, one of two things would happen. You'd either get someone like Mary Dunne, Joe Higgins or Eamon Cusack stepping up to fill the gap, and while I'm not saying that any of those three would be good or bad at the job, it's fair to say that they don't represent change from the current administration. They are as much a part of it as Tommy Byrne.
Or alternatively, no-one at all steps forward and we go from a county that's doing some stuff well and some stuff very badly, to a county that ceases to function entirely.