Diarmuid Connolly slams Parnells debacle after RTÉ Prime Time revelations
Diarmuid Connolly has blasted the Parnells controversy as going against everything that the GAA stands for and said he hopes 'justice is served'.
Dublin great Connolly is disgusted that the club went into liquidation earlier this year, despite Parnells making €22m for the sale of land in 2008.
"It's very sad, I live very close to the Coolock area," said the two-time All-Ireland winner. "They are the second longest serving GAA club in the capital.
"Parnells always had a huge catchment area. Coolock is a massive, massive area, and it is underprivileged, so they need the outlet in the area and to do what they did is criminal."
RTÉ's Prime Time this week looked into the club's fall and revealed that one players received almost €20,000 over a year and four month period for coaching, travel and subsistence, while a coach was paid almost €17,000 for travel and subsistence payments over a nine-month period.
"I saw the interviews from some of those past chairmen and some of the guys on the executive, I'd like to see the 50-odd more that went through that executive and I'd like to see the minutes of the meetings," Connolly said.
"To lose €22 million over the space of a decade is criminal. Somebody has to be held accountable for it. There's a lot of people have to be held accountable."
Stephen Cluxton, the nine-time All-Ireland winning Dublin captain, wrote a letter to the club detailing his 'frustration at the direction in which the club was being led' and he stepped down to the second team.
"They sort of ate each other from the inside out," said Connolly. "They were getting players down the country, they were giving them cars, they were giving them jobs, they were giving them accommodation, but they weren't looking after their own.
"They weren't looking after their own - they were looking to win a championship with money. That is completely the wrong way to look at it, it goes against everything the GAA stands for.
"I just hope justice is served. I hope Parnells can come back. They have no club, no pitch. It is a really sad state of affairs."
Diarmuid Connolly was speaking exclusively to BoyleSports as a Gaelic Games ambassador ahead of the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals.
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