Cork board set to consult with clubs on strategic plan

THE Cork County Board last night announced that it has completed phase one of the process to develop a Strategic Plan for GAA in the county over the next five years and is envisaging that the plan will be rolled out from next March onwards.

In an official statement, the board revealed that the four sub-committees of the county strategic planning committee, which were established last spring, have completed their detailed proposals. Those committees were charged with tackling the areas of urbanisation, communications, underage structure, and divisional structures and fixture planning. The committees were chaired by former Cork players Denis Coughlan and Denis Burns, county board PRO Ger Lane and county board vice-chairman Bob Ryan.

Chairman Jerry O’Sullivan announced that these committees have now completed their work and the board are now set to embark on an extensive consultation process with clubs across the county between now and the end of the year.

It is planned to hold two large strategic planning meetings in November as a key component of the consultation process. The first will involve coaches and members involved in juvenile structures from all clubs, with a minimum of two members from each club, and will be held on November 15th in the Rochestown Park Hotel.

The second workshop will involve three members from each club in the county on November 22nd in the Rochestown Park. This workshop will be focused on the club members outlining their aspirations for Cork GAA in areas such as games development, fixtures, finances, club development, urban development, coaching structures and infrastructure.

The board intends to consult with all stakeholders in GAA in the county including the sister organisations of camogie and ladies football. A web survey is also set to be developed where members can input their own ideas and suggestions, and it is envisaged that this will be live on the Cork GAA website from mid-November.

It is planned that the consultation process will be finished by the end of the year, with the month of January earmarked for the distillation of the information and the development of a number of drafts for review.

The Strategic Plan will then be launched at the end of next February and the process culminates with it being rolled out to all clubs in the county next March.

The board have recruited the services of O’Kelly Sutton Strategic Consultants, who have recently completed the Munster section of the GAA’s National Strategic Plan, to assist them in the consultation and compilation phases of the plan.

The timeframe is in line with the GAA directive, when launching its National Strategic Vision and Action Plan 2009-2015 last November, that all county strategic plans would be established before the end of 2010.

Currently ten counties have such plans in place with an additional 16 county plans due to be completed by March 2010 and the remainder finished before the end of 2010.

County Board Chairman Jerry O’Sullivan urged everyone in Cork to get involved in the consultation process. “I would appeal to all clubs to attend these consultation meetings which will be taking place. Everything will be taken on board and everyone in the county will be involved. The consultation process will begin immediately. This is an extremely important time for Cork GAA and I hope everyone gives it the consideration that it deserves.”

Despite some anxiety expressed over the short timeframe for the consultation process, delegates opted to pass the first process of the Cork Strategic Plan. The motion was proposed by Glen Rovers delegate Finbarr McCarthy and seconded by Kinsale delegate Paul McCarthy.