GAA chief: Rural teams battling for survival

The chairman of Cork County GAA Board says the effects of the recession, coupled with a sustained erosion of services in rural areas, could lead to some adjoining parishes having to amalgamate their teams for Gaelic games to survive.

Bob Ryan said the GAA was allowing a mix of underage teams from adjoining parishes to take part in competitive fixtures.

But the chairman said he was worried this could increasingly spread to club’s senior teams if the depopulation of rural areas of Cork county continues.

Mr Ryan, who is contesting the forthcoming local elections in the Macroom/Blarney electoral area, said the authorities could ill-afford to cut more services to rural areas.

“A lot of places have lost their schools, Garda stations, post offices and other services. These communities can’t survive because the loss of services is driving young people to migrate to more urbanised areas and also to emigrate altogether,” the Inniscarra man said.

He said the county board was doing everything in its power to help small clubs survive.

“A lot of people have left rural areas and I’ve seen this first hand. There’s now a major issue in some areas putting teams together.”

According to political pundits, the GAA boss is a certainty to get elected to Cork County Council.

While he played this down, Mr Ryan said if he was fortunate enough to get into County Hall, one of his priorities would be to protect rural areas from any further decay.

He said he had some concerns about the likelihood the city boundary would be extended into the county council-controlled area.

While not objecting to an enlarged city authority per se, Mr Ryan said he would strenuously object if the amount of territory sought was too big for his liking.

It has been known for some time the city council wants its boundary to encompass locations such as Ballincollig, Carrigaline, Glanmire, Little Island and Ringaskiddy.

Mr Ryan said he would view this as too big an expansion, especially as it would leave the county council with a significantly reduced rates base.

A very large chunk of the county council’s annual €100m income from rates comes from the large pharmaceutical companies based in Ringaskiddy and Little Island.

Mr Ryan said any significant reduction in the county council’s income from rates would have a very negative impact on rural communities, which were already under pressure to survive.

“It would inevitably lead to another reduction in services in rural areas and result in people in these communities being drawn to the larger urban centres,” he said.