GAA own goal at Cúl camps

CHILDREN attending GAA summer camps in the Republic are being charged almost twice the fees being paid by children going to the same camps in Northern Ireland.

The cost of participation in the VHI Cúl Camps being run by the GAA ranges in price from £30 (€38) in Tyrone and £40 (€50) in Armagh, to as much as €70 in Mayo and €65 in Sligo.

Prices in Munster are relatively uniform, with Cork, Kerry, Tipperary and Waterford all charging €55 per child.

Jimmy O’Dwyer, national co-ordinator of the programme, said the difference in price was down to various factors, including the relative strength of sterling versus the euro and British Government funding of sport at local level.

“Those are certainly factors influencing the prices,” said O’Dwyer. “We have set down guidelines regarding prices - for instance, we don’t want kids to be charged as much as €100, and in fairness to all the counties involved, none of them are near that figure.

“The cost of the Cúl camps are determined at county level by the county boards involved, but they’re all cognisant of the costs involved, and we’re working hard to bring those costs down. Many counties are offering reduced prices if one or more children from the same family sign up together, for example.”

O’Dwyer added that comparisons of the schemes in different jurisdictions wasn’t always fair, instancing the pilot schemes being run in Britain at present. Children involved in these, which are run along the lines of the Cúl camp, are charged for participation, while similar schemes in other sports were funded by local authorities in Britain and are free to children.

As a comparison, the FAI soccer summer camps for children cost €99 per child, as do rugby camps run by the IRFU in Munster, Connacht and Leinster. The Ulster branch of the IRFU charge £75 (€95) per child participating.