Duffy named Director General of GAA
Paraic Duffy named Director General of the GAA
The GAA have announced that Paraic Duffy from Scotstown in Co Monaghan will succeed Liam Mulvihill as Director General (Ard Stiْrthَir) of the Association. The appointment was confirmed this evening following a meeting of the GAA’s Management Committee and will take effect from 1st Feburuary 2008. The term of office will be for a seven year period.
Mr Duffy is currently the GAA’s Player Welfare Manager and joined the Association as a full time administrator on January 1st of this year. A former Principal of St. Macartans College in Monaghan, he brings a wealth of experience to the post. A former Chairman of the Monaghan County Board, he has chaired many central GAA Committees. He was Chairman of the National Audit Committee (2006), the Coaching & Games Development Committee (2003 -2006) and the Games Administration Committee (2000 – 2003).
Paraic’s playing club was Castleblaney Faughs, with whom he also gained his first administrative experience in the GAA. He was a selector on the successful Monaghan senior football team from 1983 to 1987 and was the International Rules Tour Manager in Australia in 2001 as well as on two Junior Tours. He has been involved with coaching at underage at all levels and holds a Club Coach Level One Award.
GAA President Nickey Brennan said that Paraic Duffy is a man with an outstanding record of effective and practical service to the GAA at club, colleges, county and national level. He said that he had fulfilled various roles and delivered on briefs down through the years with authority and distinction. He said that his ability, integrity and intellectual capability to address core issues in the Association was recognised and appreciated by all closely involved in the affairs of the Association and the broader GAA constituency who followed his career and contribution to the organisation to date. The President said that he was immensely pleased that Paraic was available and willing to assume the responsibility of the most pivotal role in the Association at a hugely strategic and important time in the evolution of the GAA and the many challenges it faces in an era of accelerated and intense globalisation.
Outgoing Director General, Mr Liam Mulvihill, said that the role of Director General had evolved and changed dramatically over the years. He said that each new era presented new challenges and greater need for effective and innovative management. Mr Mulvihill said that he had respected and admired Paraic’s commitment, dedication and professionalism as an innovator and administrator for many years and as a colleague in the central Administration of the GAA over the last year. He said that he could not think of anybody more suitable and capable of taking on the responsibility and challenges of Director General and that he is sure that the management of the Administration of the GAA is in safe hands in the years ahead. Both the President and Liam Mulvihill wished Paraic every success.
A graduate of the University of Ulster and UCD, Mr Duffy’s work as Player Welfare Manager in Croke Park has already facilitated the publishing of key reports on Player Burnout (he was Secretary of the Player Burnout Task Force) and the playing of Club Fixtures, as well as initiatives relevant to medical issues within the Association, and in particular cardiac screening and the provision of defibrillators (through his work with the Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee). Working with the Higher Education Committee he was instrumental in the creation of a bursaries scheme for 3rd level colleges earlier this year, while throughout his tenure he has liaised with Intercounty Players and the GPA on a variety of welfare issues.
Mr Duffy becomes only the fourth man to hold the top administrative post in the GAA since 1929 and is the 18th in all. He is the first Ulster man to be appointed to a position previously held by the likes of Michael Cusack (a founder of the Association), Frank B Dineen (the man who purchased Croke Park for the GAA), Luke O’Toole, Sean O Sيochلin and Padraig س Caoimh.