Kilmaine man throws hat in the ring for Mayo GAA treasurer position
KILMAINE businessman and South Mayo GAA chairman Donal Walshe has announced his intention to contest the Mayo GAA treasurer position at the upcoming county convention, pledging to grow county income, reduce club levies, and move Mayo from saving to building.
Walshe, founder of Turin Components Ltd, has been nominated by his club, Kilmaine GAA, and will stand for treasurer of Mayo GAA at the convention, to be held on Sunday, December 6.
He has served as both treasurer and chairperson of Kilmaine GAA Club, and managed Carras minor teams for 10 years.
Walshe's campaign puts clubs at the centre of the county's finances, growing Mayo GAA's own income so the county can reduce club levies, ease the pressure on volunteers, and fund the facilities its teams need.
Announcing his candidacy, Donal said: “For too long, our clubs have carried too much of the county's finances through club levies, draw tickets and volunteers giving up their weekends, on top of coaching teams and keeping their grounds going.
"Every club in Mayo helped bring Sam Maguire home. Now it's time the county started giving something back.”
He added: "Mayo GAA is in a far stronger position than it was in 2016 and 2017, and the people who steadied things deserve credit for that. But we got here mainly by saving: lower monthly loan repayments, lower team costs during Covid, and record gate receipts when crowds came back.
“Saving got us stable. It won't build Bohola (location of the proposed Mayo GAA Centre of Excellence) or take the weight off clubs.
“A treasurer isn't only there to mind the money. They have to go out and raise it.
“Strong clubs and successful county teams go hand in hand. We should never have to choose between supporting our clubs, competing for All-Ireland titles and investing in the facilities our players deserve.”
Walshe founded Turin Components Ltd, a kitchen manufacturing company, in the middle of an economic crisis. Twenty years on, it is a multi-million euro business in the heart of Mayo employing more than 70 people.
He was one of the leaders in Kilmaine GAA's McHale Fusion baler raffle, which made a profit of €450,000. The campaign sold tickets worldwide, ran on a billboard in Times Square, and saw a baler take centre stage in Croke Park for the first and only time.
“In Kilmaine, we showed what one club can raise when it asks the world. Galway and Roscommon asked their people to help build something. Mayo has the biggest support base in the country and has barely asked it for anything.
“Imagine what the county could do. We need a proactive commercial strategy that generates new income rather than continually returning to clubs for more money.
“When the county grows its income, clubs must see a real return. I want a clear plan to reduce levies and ensure clubs benefit financially from Mayo’s success.”
Walshe believes growing county income is also essential to delivering major infrastructure projects, including the proposed centre of excellence at Bohola, estimated to cost €15 million or more.
“We all want Mayo to have the best possible facilities and county teams competing at the highest level. We want Bohola, and our players deserve it. But right now we don't have the funding to build it.
“Major projects need a credible funding plan, tight cost control and a fundraising campaign to match. If we don't fundraise properly now, it's the clubs that will end up carrying the risk.”
Two years ago, the late Séamus Tuohy, then chairman of Mayo GAA, asked Donal and Mayo GAA Cultural Officer Daithí Gallagher to carry out an internal review of how Mayo GAA worked and to subsequently lead the process of appointing the county's first CEO.
“Séamus gave everything to this county,” said Donal. “He saw that if Mayo was going to compete, on and off the pitch, it needed to be run professionally. We told clubs the CEO role would pay for itself within 12 months. It has done that in a quarter of the time. Mayo now needs a treasurer who gives the CEO room to lead, with the treasurer providing oversight and reporting openly to clubs.”
Walshe said his decision to stand stems from the experience he brings from every level of the association.
At club level, as mentioned, he has served Kilmaine GAA as both treasurer and chairperson, and spent 10 years managing Carras minor teams.
At divisional level, he chairs the South Mayo board. At county level, he was part of the review that led to the appointment of Mayo GAA’s first CEO, he was appointed Cairde Mhaigh Eo chairperson this year, he was part of the referee review board and the Bord na nÓg review board, and has sat on multiple managerial appointment committees.
Outside the GAA, he has spent 20 years building and running a business that employs more than 70 people, with the budgeting, borrowing and cost control that comes with it.
Walshe believes that combination is what the treasurer’s role needs now: a club volunteer who knows what it takes to keep a club going, and a businessman who knows how to grow income.
On his decision to stand, Donal stated: “People have asked me whether a contest means a row. It doesn't. In a healthy organisation, every role should be tested from time to time.
"For most of our officers, the rule book does that for us: five years, and then someone new steps in. The treasurer, the officer who looks after the county's money, has no such limit, so the only time that role is ever tested is when someone puts their name forward. Clubs deserve that choice. Giving it to them is simply good governance.”
His priorities as treasurer would be as follows: to implement a clear, phased plan to reduce club levies and deliver a share of new county income to clubs so that every club feels the benefit of Mayo's success; to raise money and not just save it by implementing a structured county fundraising programme at home and across the diaspora, driven by the CEO with the treasurer's full backing; to see Bohola 'done right', with a funding plan, tight cost control and value for money; to give the CEO and staff room to lead day-to-day operations, with the treasurer in oversight and reporting openly to clubs; and to implement closer cooperation with Mayo LGFA and Mayo Camogie where it benefits clubs and players.
Concluding, Donal said: “I want volunteers under less pressure, a professional administrative structure at county level supporting clubs, and our county teams properly resourced and facilities we can be proud of for generations. Stronger clubs build stronger county teams. If we get our finances right, the whole of Mayo GAA wins.”
Donal will attend the annual general meetings of the divisional boards over the coming weeks and invites clubs to contact him directly with any questions.