New DG reveals plans for the future

ADMITTING that initially he had no interest in becoming Director-General until he was encouraged ‘to throw his hat in the ring,’ Paraic Duffy made a commitment yesterday to play his part as leader of a ‘an integrated leadership team’ which will guide the GAA into the future.

In terms of his priorities, he said he would be keen to develop as quickly as possible a strategic plan at national level — outlining their goals and those which were ‘achievable.’

“I would hope that as an Association we develop a clear set of priorities to bring us through the next five years and the challenge for the team will be to deliver on those,’’ he commented, pointing out that there were ‘‘obvious’’ challenges facing them.

For instance, there were ‘‘issues’’ relating to the development of hurling and around the whole challenge of urbanisation, resulting from the significant increase in the number of large towns. “The GAA presence in those urban areas — how you make it happen?’’ he asked. “In Dublin we have large areas being catered for by one club. Do you develop bigger clubs or put new clubs in place and provide facilities?

“We don’t accept for one minute that the organisation is strong and can’t improve. There are immense challenges,’’ he added.

In real terms, he agreed that the club v county debate was an obvious example of where communications had broken down.

While the need for a healthy inter-county programme – and big games – was obvious, at the same time they had to recognise that there was ‘‘a huge problem and a huge discontent’’ within clubs. The challenge was ‘‘to manage both,’’ to achieve a balance. “Proposals going before Special Congress won’t necessarily solve the problem, but that is one of the biggest challenges we face in the coming years.

“Our Association is built around four things — volunteers, the games, pitches and premises that give us a presence in the community. The area we have the biggest problem is in the provision of games. People have to be given the opportunity to play and that is one of the biggest complaints clubs have. It’s an area we have to address directly. If people are not playing, they will not stay. It’s as simple as that."