Galway GAA write letter to TDs and Council for ambitious Centre of Excellence project

“We believe this would be a first of its kind in Ireland in terms of joint co-operation between two local authorities, and three Gaelic Games Associations.”

Fri, 02 Feb, 2024 - 16:19

Maurice Brosnan

The chairpersons of Galway’s GAA, LGFA and camogie board have written a joint letter to local TDs and the Galway City and County Council requesting 30-40 acres at the Galway airport site for a shared Centre of Excellence.

Plans for the Centre of Excellence would include a full-size pitch within an indoor facility, two full size floodlit 4G pitches, 3-4 full size pitches, dressing rooms, gym facilities and video analysis rooms.

The airport, situated east of the city near Carnmore, closed in 2013. Galway city and county council purchased the site and it was used as a test centre during the pandemic.

“We write to you on behalf of Galway GAA, Galway LGFA and Galway Camogie, which represent 157 clubs across Galway East and West, North and South, in every parish in the county and with a combine active membership in excess of 50,000, over 20% of the county’s population.

“On a weekly basis, thousands of boys and girls, men and women play our games at both clubs and county level, and wee are particularly proud of the achievement of each of our organisations and teams on a national level in recent years. We have a shared goal of more integrated approach in future years, on all levels, to reflect the reality within many clubs.

“As part of our integration discussion to date, one of the key issues which has emerged is the lack of adequate playing and training facilities for a combined Galway GAA, LGFA and Camogie approach to play our games at all levels and provide adequate facilities. This is particularly prevalent for our Ladies Association and places a large limitation on developing our games for the young girls of the future.

“Collectively, we have been looking at solutions to address the problem. We have identified the Galway Airport site of over 100 acres, with existing parking as an ideal site to develop a municipal centre of excellence for each of our Galway organisational and indeed, possibly, other sports and organisations could also be looked at as a follow-on to our discussions with you.”

The letter goes on to outline how the development could qualify for funding from the Large-Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund which has allocated €20m million to the Connacht Rugby development.

“There would also be the possibility to secure funding for such a project from the GAA nationally and also, private donors locally where there would be significant interest.

“We believe this would be a first of its kind in Ireland in terms of joint co-operation between two local authorities, and three Gaelic Games Associations.”

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Fianna Fáil City Councillor John Connolly said there a masterplan is to be developed for the airport site and that he believes this is a worthy contribution to it.

“The issue of the airport site became contentious last year when it seemed that the County Council had made decisions about use of the site for concerts. A number of City Councillors felt the decision was made with only limited participation of the City Council and with no input from Councillors.

“This proposal though has been brought to the attention of Councillors and officials of both authorities concurrently. I believe it deserves exploration from both authorities. The airport site has had limited use since its purchase and the use of some of the site for sporting infrastructure of sports organisations that operate across the city and county could be seen as beneficial to citizens of both the city and the county which is the purpose for which the site was bought.”