A former Gaelic Club president has threatened to report it to ASIC, unless it admits to debt.
The Gaelic Club in Sydney faces being reported to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) after disputing the existence of an $80,000 debt it owes to the GAA in New South Wales.
Last month, NSW GAA sent a letter of demand to the Gaelic Club, in Sydney, for an $80,000 debenture, outstanding for the last decade. A debenture is a loan certificate or written acknowledgment of one party’s debt to another.
The GAA wrote to the Gaelic Club – the commercial arm of the Irish National Association – to offer them a non-negotiable ‘final offer’ to settle the debt for $40,000.
The Gaelic Club has now responded to NSW GAA to dispute the existence of the debt.
It has also asked NSW GAA to produce evidence of how and when the debenture was paid to the club by the association.
Former Gaelic Club president, Brian Buckley, has told members he will report the club to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), unless it acknowledges the $80,000 debt and moves to accept the settlement offered by NSW GAA.
Mr Buckley has attempted to broker an agreement between the parties but he does not have the support of the Gaelic Club board. He has now written to the club’s membership, claiming the club is insolvent.
“From 2002 to 2010 the Gaelic Club annual financial returns, supplied to the members and ASIC as a true and exact record of events and signed off by the auditors, showed a figure in long-term liabilities of $88,000, made up of accrued interest of $8,000 and debenture principal of $80,000,” Mr Buckley writes.
“Every year these reports were adopted by members who were aware of this obligation, and was never challenged.”
Under ASIC rules, directors who are aware of insolvency trading can face penalties of up to $200,000 and be disqualified from acting as directors or company managers.
NSW GAA’s 2004 annual financial statement, the last it submitted, lists “Gaelic Club Debentures” worth $63,520 as a current asset.
Meanwhile, the Gaelic Club’s 2010 Annual Report lists the $88,000 debenture under its financial liabilities. In an accompanying note, the GAA debenture is said to be “interest free with no repayment terms applicable”.
The club is “economically dependant upon the Irish National Association”, the report shows. The Gaelic Club pays no rent on the upper level of 64 Devonshire Street.
The club made a small profit of $5,742 at the end of the 2010 financial year.
Both NSW GAA and the Gaelic Club declined to comment when contacted by the Irish Echo.
:: Fair Trading pursues NSW GAA over missing returns
In a separate development, the Irish Echo has learned that the NSW GAA has failed to lodge an annual financial statement with the Fair Trading department for six years.
In March 2005, the association lodged annual financial statements for the years 1997 to 2005 after the department’s public registry chased them over their compliance.
NSW GAA had a “poor compliance history”, said a spokesperson for the department, which has contacted the association to urge it to submit its returns for the last six years.
Committee members of associations that fail to submit annual financial statements are liable for penalties.
