The decision to postpone the Royal House Draw evoked debate at last night’s County Committee meeting in Dunganny.

Chairman Peter O’Halloran said the decision the postpone the first draw until December 29th wasn’t taken lightly. However he said there was no point in running the draw when they hadn’t achieved their targets.

"We made a decision if we didn’t hit a certain target then we would cancel the draw," O'Halloran said.

"It was well into July before tickets were put out. In hindsight 11 or 12 weeks wasn’t long enough to sell tickets. We have had good online sales and good support from clubs. I can't answer how much we have taken in but it hasn't hit €900,000. We need to hit €800,000 before the first draw and we haven't done so yet," O'Halloran continued.

The chairman confirmed that there has been a steady sale of tickets since the postponement, in the region of €12,000 a day and while they weren't as high as previous, ticket sales over the weekend were good. He said he was confident that sales would reach €900,000 before the first draw.

Skryne delegate Joseph O'Brien commended the decision to postpone the draw but wondered if targets would be reached before December 29th.

The chairman said they had to be fair to people who bought tickets early to hold the draw before the end of the year. He also said that some clubs hadn't supported the draw for different reasons and he was hopeful that they would now come on board.

"We need a bigger push from ourselves, online and from clubs. This is not my draw, this is a Meath Co Board draw for Pairc Tailteann. We will be applying for government grants and we should know next April how much we will get."

He also emphasized that decisions regarding the development would be made at county board level and nowhere else.

Bective delegate Paddy McConnell said it was the responsibility of every chairperson in every club to make the draw a success.

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