Christy Cooney ( Irish: Críostóir Ó Cuana, born 1952 in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland) is a Gaelic games administrator, who served as the 36th president [1] of the Gaelic Athletic Association. He was elected president at the annual GAA Congress on 12 April 2008 and succeeded Nickey Brennan in the post in 2009 - becoming the 36th president of the GAA. [2]
In the GAA Annual Congress in 2005, Nickey Brennan was voted as the new GAA president, only 17 votes ahead of Cooney. [2] Brennan's election was seen as a surprise by some and Cooney thought he had gathered enough support among delegates to secure the position. [2] Brennan said that he hoped Cooney would put his name forward again in the future. [2] At the time Cooney was president of his local club Youghal. [2]
Cooney ran again for president three years later and was elected with over half the votes at the 2008 Congress, beating Liam O'Neill and Sean Fogarty. [3] In 2011 O'Neill was nominated unopposed to succeed to the post, and did so as Cooney stepped down in April 2012.[ citation needed]
Earlier, in the mid-1990s, Cooney was one of the government-appointed members of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC), which at the time licensed and regulated Independent broadcasting in Ireland.[ citation needed]
Controversy
Cooney was widely criticised for his stance on pitch invasions at Croke Park. [4] [5] Due to an anti-pitch invasion stance held by Cooney and other GAA officials, the GAA installed a large fence encompassing perspex screening in front of the Hill 16 end in an effort to deter pitch invasions. [6] In numerous interviews, Cooney gave the Hillsborough disaster as an example why this fence is needed, yet numerous columnists have pointed out the irony that this fence may actually lead to a Hillsborough type tragedy at Croke Park. [7] A campaign to get Dublin City Council to remove the barrier began. [8]
FÁS controversy
Cooney faced the public accounts committee regarding €643,000 spent on foreign travel by FÁS executives as well as spending irregularities identified in FÁS's €9m annual advertising budget. [9]
References
- ^ Brennan, Michael (5 December 2008). "Croke Park used as jobs fair venue 'to save lives of children'". Irish Independent. Retrieved 12 December 2008.
- ^ a b c d e Bogue, Declan (10 April 2009). "New man for the big job". Gaelic Life. p. 8.
- ^ "Cooney to be next GAA President". RTÉ. 12 April 2008. Archived from the original on 14 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ Conlon, Tommy (15 August 2010). "Croke Park's fencing scheme the height of ignorance". Irish Independent.
- ^ "Down star Benny Coulter at odds with GAA President Christy Cooney over Croke Park fences". Belfasttelegraph.
- ^ "Off the fence and off the pitch". The Irish Times. 8 August 2010.
- ^ "Hill 16 fence will create other barriers". 19 August 2010.
- ^ "An Fear Rua - Humphries: Croker nobs put more than a fence between us". Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- ^ Brennan, Michael (27 November 2008). "Incoming GAA president faces spending quiz". Irish Independent.
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