Sean

@AdrianYalland @Catheri77239453 Did your complaint state that the staff member was wearing a "pro-Hamas" pin as you originally claimed?

@Catheri77239453 I didn’t lie. Ryanair have said they don’t condone what the staffer did. And I was refunded. Facts speak for themselves. Have a nice day.

Turns out Niz’s idea of reporting me to my regulator and hoping @ryanair would sue me might not be the winner he thinks it was given @ryanair have apologised, said it “does not condone” the conduct of its staff member, and refunded me.

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs Beirne, Ryan and McCarty all regularly start. Aki will be 36 when his CC ends next year, seems obvious. Why are you unable to say what CCs should be used for? Should Munster have four based on the current strength of their squad? Should Coombes have got one instaed of Doris?

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs And if central contracts are only for guaranteed starters is James Ryan going to lose his now that Joe McCarthy has one? Why do we have 3 centres on central contacts. Who should lose one there?

Gerry banging on the door but doesn't quite make the link between budget cuts to all provinces but Leinster consistently being the only one getting additional central contracts during the period to increase their funding in the Nucifora era.

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs So what is the purpose of CCs? Are they not meant to ensure top Irish players remain within the Irish system? What is the benefit of the IRFU paying the wages of players that might only feature in an extended squad? Does Team Cohesion mean picking the best players available?

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs Again that's only the case if you follow the new rule of how CCs are to be used and that creates the imbalance and the over reliance by Leinster on CC money. It also doesn't help when Farrell goes complete Team Cohesion

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs Surely the outputs of the various academies is responsible for the imbalance. Prior to his arrival, talent was fairly evenly spread throughout the provinces. Mun/Uls have failed to produce regular test players over the last decade, so haven't received CCs

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs Nucifora is responsible for the imbalance in the central contracts. He changed their use and he allowed one province to become over dependent on central contract funding.

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs non Leinster players or the number of CCs was greatly increased and awarded to fringe players. This would obviously lead to a sizable drop in the province's base funding, so wouldn't really benefit Munster et al. You just don't seem to have a practical alternative

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs Your consistent argument is that Nucifora is almost entirely responsible for the gap between Leinster and the other provinces. The only thing you can point to is the proportion of CCs at Leinster. This could only have been prevented if some of their CCs were instead awarded to...

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs There were 16 the year before he started and they were mostly guaranteed starters. Are you saying each province should have 3-4 CCs, regardless of who forms the core of the national team? Again, please just say which Leinster players were incorrectly awarded CCs. Should be easy

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs Again you need to go back to see how central contracts were actually used pre Nucifora. They weren't just for guaranteed starters and they weren't all in one province. He shifted the balance that will take years to restore.

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs Giving the 00's figure and saying that's pre Nucifora just muddies the water, it's 5+ years before he started in the role. How is it relevant to the changes he made? Just stick to the facts, it saves time having to clarify everything

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs And by the way I didnt say Nucifora cut it from 30 down. I said in the 00s, pre Nucifora it was 30. Nucifora changed made further cuts and drastically altered the balance and funding.

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs That's from 2011, so still not relevant to Nucifora. Leinster having 80% is a function of them producing the vast majority of the test team. CCs are awarded to players of highest national importance. Why can't you just say which Leinster players shouldn't be on a CC?

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs If you want to use forums for details here's one that shows 30 down to 21 and even on the 606 board it shows a fairly even split. Certainly no where near the 80% dominance Leinster have now and how that alters the balance. boards.ie/discussion/205…

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs Got the figure from here: 606v2.com/t50575-irish-c… Not confirmed, that's why I said approx. Who were the 25+ Nucifora reduced to 14? If that figure's from more than five years before he started, how is it relevant? Seems like its just a way to make the changes seem more extreme

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs Who were the 16 in 13/14?

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs Nucifora started in 2014, there were approx 16 CCs in 2013/14, lets stick to facts instead of hyperbole. So the numbers haven't changed drastically, just the allocation which is based on national importance, not provincial origin. So once again, which one was awarded incorrectly?

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs Going back to the 00s and pre Nucifora there were 25+ central contracts split much more evenly between the Ulster, Munster and Leinster. They weren't even just for guaranteed starters. Nucifora tipped that to Leinster having nearly 80% of the CCs currently.

@dave_or_chips @Overthehillprop But CC funding is separate from the province's budget. Connacht have more CCs than Ulster/Munster combined. Has their budget been cut to fund this? If so, why isn't this a problem too

@sgeraghty85 @Overthehillprop If CCs are 100% centrally funded (as they have been during the Nucifora years) then as they move away from one province and become more concentrated in an another then in real terms the overall playing budget of rhe former is reduced while that of the latter increases.

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs And the only difference is the number of CCs at each province. So again, which ones did Nucifora incorrectly award and where should they have gone instead. You've said this is all down to him, so be specific, which Leinster players shouldn't be on a CC?

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs No the link is the under performance of the other 3 provinces vs Leinster. All the funding I'm talking about is actually coming from the international game, it's the allocation of how it's split is the issue.

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs No, you said there was a link between these things, implying one was used to fund the other. When you say Nucifora overloaded CCs to Leinster, which ones shouldn't have been given? You constantly say this was his doing, so what would the unbiased allocation be?

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs Again what I said was all base budgets were cut but Nucifora overloaded the central deals to Leinster which increased their budget. In fact it increased their funding so much they are now in excess of the Top14 salary spend.

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs Of course there is but that's nothing to do with your original statement that other province's budgets have been cut to fund Leinster CCs. Everything else is just shifting the goalposts

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs It's almost like there's a correlation between how much money you spend in pro sports and the potential to be successful.

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs Base funding was cut due to drop in revenue from Covid. New Leinster CCs replaced older players who were moved off them, eg POM, Henderson. So again, what is the actual link you mentioned between provincial funding cuts and the number of Leinster CCs?

@sgeraghty85 @mackhairs Base funding was cut for all provinces, Leinsters overall budget went up due to increased central contract numbers & Andeh continues with team #Cohesion People keep asking the question why the other three provinces aren't producing internationals but can't seem to figure it out

@dave_or_chips @Overthehillprop But again, how is this linked to funding cuts at the other provinces? To use your figures, was everyone else's budgets reduced to 8m to pay for the new Leinster CCs?

@sgeraghty85 @Overthehillprop Because the IRFU has finite funding. Take a simplified example. Say the IRFU has €50M to spend, €10M for each of the provinces plus €10M for fully funded CCs. That works OK if there isn't a wild disparity in the distribution of CCs. 1/n

@Overthehillprop @mackhairs But you're saying that this was funded by a cuts to the other provinces. Can you show anything to prove that the number of CCs at Leinster has directly caused provincial budgets to be reduced? Actual figures, not vibes

@mackhairs @sgeraghty85 This is how Leinster ended up spending more on salary than any of the Top14 sides. Base funding of approx 8 million. Central contracts of approx 5 million. Unknown PONI contract money Plus the external investors paying for Barrett and Snyman.

@mackhairs @Overthehillprop Yeah, because of the number of test players they've developed, their budget was reduced along with everyone else but the overall wage bill has probably increased. But claiming this is funded by cuts to the other provinces is conspiracy nonsense (not accusing you of this btw)

@sgeraghty85 @Overthehillprop not sure what OP is saying but because of an increased central contracts at Leinster , they ended up dealing with a surplus where they didn’t need to shed anyone because they had/have 10/11 central contracts. So while their budget was cut with the rest, it wasn’t really.

@mackhairs @Overthehillprop Yeah, budgets were cut due to a drop in revenue during covid. OP says there is a specific link between this cut and the increase in the number of Leinster CCs. CC allocation is based on player's importance to the national team, not about funding a specific province

@sgeraghty85 @Overthehillprop The 4 provinces had a flat rate budget cut happen during covid while at the same time Leinster picked up more central contracts which at the time were 100% paid for so they actually ended up having an increase in funds where the other 3 were under a lot more pressure to cut