Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Jarlath Burns pictured at GAA Congress. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
By Cian O'Connell
GAA President Jarlath Burns hopes the Association can work in partnership with Government in future to help deal with rural depopulation.
At Annual Congress in Donegal on Saturday, Benny Hurl, Chairperson of the GAA's National Demographics Committee, spoke to delegates about the issues facing clubs throughout the country.
Burns acknowledged the importance of the work being carried out by the Demographics Committee. "Benny was very keen that we do this, it's something that he is very passionate about," Burns says.
"As I went through in my travels last year, I met a lot of people who were of a similar mind, and they're all on that committee. That committee can't make the change, and the GAA can't make the change.
"This is demographics, and Benny has been around the country, and has been in North Mayo, in particular, where there's a serious issue with rural depopulation, and one of the things that he found, there are plenty of jobs, and there are plenty of opportunities.
"You can work from home now, you can work from home in many, many jobs, and you can do two days at home. Young people don't really want those jobs.
"They would be prepared to go to Australia to do the same job. This is all about lifestyle, and that does present a problem for us, and the place where it becomes a crisis is, the GAA can do what we can, we can control the controllables."
Significant challenges exist according to the GAA President. "This is a non-controllable that is visiting us, and it's presenting us with two problems," he adds.
Benny Hurl, Chairperson of the GAA's National Demographics Committee, addresses delegates at Annual Congress. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
"The first problem is that we've wonderful facilities in places, and not enough people play in them, and then we have other places, if you look at who won the Hurling and Football Club this year (Na Fianna and Cuala), two incredible clubs, and they haven't enough facilities because of the numbers that's there."
Collaborating with other organisations in the future is crucial. "I've always said that the National Spatial Strategy of the early 2000s was an outstanding document, with hub towns and hub villages, which really valued rural Ireland, and the position that that had," Burns added.
"That's why we got towns like Portlaoise and Letterkenny, and big towns like that, expanding in a controlled way. But that mentality seems to have passed on, and I don't think we're doing enough now to try to preserve modern Ireland.
"The first thing we need to work out is, is rural Ireland worth preserving? Well, the GAA says yes, and we are the biggest organisation in it, and I think we need to use that clout to work out how we can do that, working in a partnership with Government."
Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan is welcoming suggestions from the Demographics Committee about how the Association can adapt. "There are things in terms of our own structures, and in terms of our own rules, that unfortunately they are so deeply ingrained that it's going to take a few brave steps, and it's going to take a bit of creativity, but I think that group has that in them to come up with things like that," Ryan says.
"So, more and more you're seeing applications for amalgamated teams and things like that, and that's a difficult process for people to go, maybe we have to be more flexible about playing eligibility.
"It's very, very difficult to set up a GAA club, it's easier perhaps in other codes, we are very strictly delineated in terms of who you can play for. Maybe there are things around that that we need to think a little bit differently about, and we just have to be careful to keep the balance right in terms of who we are, and what we're supposed to be, and not lose any of that.
"I think Benny and that group, you've already seen some of that, some really good ideas, they're still in the fleshing them out stage, but I think they'll come up with something good."
