ANTRIM COUNTY GAA Board is taking legal action against individual members of Casement Social Club (CSC) in an attempt to recoup close to €43,000 the Board says is owed to it.
In a letter to members of CSC, the Board said that it will be “pursuing those it thinks most able to meet the debt” once a judgement allowing them to seek the funds has been granted.
A €90 million redevelopment of Casement Park was announced last year but members of the park’s social club successfully blocked plans to demolish their premises.
Rent
The Board is now seeking what they say are bills owed for the electricity and rent at the premises.
The CSC are willing to repay what is owed, but Chairman Bob Murray said have not been provided with receipts as to how the Board arrived at the figure of €43,000.
He said an annual rent of €8,000 had been paid for several decades.
The CSC notes that last week the High Court ordered Antrim GAA Board to hand over financial records relating to the social club.
“It is preposterous for the Board to expect that the CSC would pay the Boards unsubstantiated invoices issued to the CSC while the Board still retained the actual financial records of the CSC”, the CSC said in a statement.
“It is our opinion that the Board’s issuing of a solicitor’s letter to members/families of Casement Social Club on foot of alleged debts already disputed with the Board’s solicitors on behalf of the CSC by our solicitors [...] is a most thoughtless, inconsiderate and unprofessional action to have taken,” a statement issued by Casement Social Club reads.
It has caused terrible worry and stress on our members and families. Many of our members would be retired and such an unwarranted threat against them especially by the Board is entirely unforgivable.
“They haven’t paid a penny since the 7 August,” chairperson of the Board Jim Murray told this website, noting that they are now separate from the GAA and are essentially a private entity.
