Duffy New GAA Director General
DUBLIN - The GAA have announced that Paraic Duffy from Scotstown in County Monaghan will succeed Liam Mulvihill as Director General (Ard Stiúrthóir) of the Association. The appointment will take effect from Feburuary 1, 2008. The term of office will be for a seven year period.
Duffy is currently the GAA's Player Welfare Manager and joined the Association as a full time administrator on January 1 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 and 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.
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 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.
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, 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 third level colleges earlier this year, while throughout his tenure he has liaised with Intercounty Players and the GPA on a variety of welfare issues.
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 Síocháin and Padraig Ó Caoimh.
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