Gaelic Athletic Association - Structure

Structure

The GAA is a democratic association consisting of various boards, councils, and committees organised in a structured hierarchy, and the basic unit of the association is the club. Its world headquarters are at Croke Park. All of the association's activities are governed by internal statutes compiled as the Official Guide (Treoir Oifigiúil). Each County Board may have its own by-laws, none of which may conflict with the Official Guide. Each Divisional Board may have its own regulations, none of which may duplicate or contradict the Official Guide or county by-laws.

The key elements are:

• Annual Congress
• President
• Central Council or Árd Comhairle
• Provincial councils
• County Board
  • Divisional Board (in larger counties)
  • Sport specific board (in some counties)
• Club Committee

All of these bodies are elected on a democratic basis and the members are volunteers. Paid staff are employed at national, provincial and county level in administrative, coaching, development and other roles, but most counties have few employees and few clubs have any.

The highest office in the organisation is that of President (Uachtarán), currently held by Liam O'Neill who was elected in 2012 for a four-year term succeeding Christy Cooney. The President travels across Ireland and internationally to promote the organisation and attend games; Cooney's predecessor Nickey Brennan travelled over 250,000 kilometres (160,000 mi) in Ireland alone during his three years as President, and visited Great Britain, Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East on several occasions, meeting dignitaries such as New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg along the way.

The Director General (Irish: Ard Stiúrthóir) of the Association is the person who leads the executive work of the Association and oversees the work of the full-time staff. The current holder of the post is former Monaghan County Board Chairman Paraic Duffy who was appointed in 2008.

Two discrete operating units oversee the business of Gaelic Games in Ireland, and throughout the world. In addition to the Central Council or Árd Comhairle, whose activities are tax-exempt, the Árd Comhairle owns and controls 100% of Páirc an Chrocaigh Teoranta (PACT), a limited company. Formed initially to protect the Association in the event of liability arising from accidents in the stadium, the GAA's corporate entity PACT has since evolved into a significant profIt centre with five fully owned subsidiaries:

• Gambetto Ltd.

• Lauris Ltd.

• Brindare Ltd.

• Croke Park Motors Ltd.

• Mercury Investments Ltd.

Known jointly as "the Croke Park Group of Companies", PACT and its subsidiaries reported turnover of €36,847,590 for financial year 2010, with stated gross profit of €30,991,913.

The Árd Comhairle separately declared revenues of €58,015,244 for fiscal year 2010 with gross profit of €47,512,110. (The Árd Comhairle paid out €3,660,729 in salaries and pensions in 2010; PACT paid out €1,882,500 to 28 corporate employees and three groundsmen.)