Man at centre of GAA fraud investigation found dead
A senior official in the Gaelic Athletic Association who resigned amid an alleged embezzlement scandal was today found dead in a rural outhouse.
Investigating officers confirmed they are not looking for anyone else as part of their inquiry into the sudden death of the 70-year-old man, named locally as Denis Hanrahan.
The former official in Waterford GAA's eastern board was at the centre of a criminal investigation into the misappropriation of around €142,000 from ticket sales.
Several leading figures within the GAA in Waterford tonight declined to make any comment on the tragic circumstances surrounding their former colleague's death.
Mr Hanrahan's body was found in a rural outhouse at Stokestown outside New Ross, Co Wexford, this afternoon, just two days after the gardaí were called in to investigate the missing cash.
The Waterford GAA county board had also issued a writ against the former high-ranking official.
An emergency meeting of the local GAA was called on Sunday night to brief members around the county about the allegations against Mr Hanrahan, who stepped down last week.
It is understood the missing cash was from ticket sales for Waterford inter-county games in the All-Ireland Championship over a few months last year.
Tickets for the Championship are allocated to the county's eastern board and the western board from the GAA headquarters.
It is understood that a small number of top GAA officials in Waterford knew about the missing cash for some time and had asked the senior colleague to rectify the matter.
When that attempt to claw back the money failed however, they brought in gardaí and initiated legal proceedings.
The Waterford GAA county board refused to make any statement on the matter.
A garda spokesman confirmed that no-one else was being sought in relation to the investigation into the man's death.
"It is not being treated as suspicious but we are treating it as a sudden death," he said.
