Burns eyes 'practical way' to ease financial burden on GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association

Jarlath Burns said the facilities at many GAA clubs will have to upgraded as they were “built for men and for men's needs”.

GAA president Jarlath Burns listens to a speech by LGFA president Mícheál Naughton. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

GAA president Jarlath Burns told a Joint Oireachtas Committee a "practical way" for the state to support the integration between his association, the Camogie Association and the LGFA would be to reopen the International Investment Programme.

The programme, which allowed foreign nationals to claim residency in Ireland for a certain period provided they invested money here, was discontinued 14 months ago.

“We have grounds Waterford, Meath, Longford, Louth, Kerry, who have been impacted by the fact that has stopped,” Burns said on Wednesday.

“We're the only country in Europe where the International Investment Programme has been stopped. That money will be spent directly on infrastructure and will take a lot of the financial burden off the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association.

“For example, Kildare who are in the middle of rebuilding St Conleth's, are waiting for that money to be released.” 

Burns understands the reticence of the government about the scheme as “due diligence” is required regarding investors.

“I just think the prize is great here,” he added.

“We do not have the auctioning power of UEFA and FIFA. Watching [the Champions League], I was looking at three advertisements along the side - PlayStation, Heineken and McDonalds.

“Because of the values of our association, we do not have connections with those. One is fast food, the other is alcohol and the third promotes a sedentary lifestyle. That holds us back.

“We have stopped ourselves from taking betting companies sponsorship which a lot of other sports rely on. That is good for our values but it really holds us back.” 

Steering Committee Chairperson Mary McAleese speaking during the update on the integration process involving the Camogie Association, the GAA and LGFA, at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Burns said the facilities at many GAA clubs will have to upgraded as they were “built for men and for men's needs”. “That's something that we can't be blind to if we are going to have facilities for all - they must genuinely be for all,” he added.

The charging of women’s teams for the use of GAA facilities is another issue which will have to be addressed before the full integration target date of 2027.

“I'm not going to condemn any club for doing it,” said Burns.

“If we are going to move into this one family situation, the first thing that has to go is paying to use facilities.” 

For several reasons, Burns believes the number of training sessions attended by inter-county players needs to decrease.

“The €40 million that we are spending training our inter-county teams is not sustainable for us,” he said.

“We want to make it bearable for a young athlete to play for his county team. I would hate to think what the carbon footprint is of all those journeys that are being made.

“When were with the Pittsburgh Steelers the week before last and I asked Dan Rooney, 'What is the longest journey that any of your players make to training?' He said, 'Well, there's some players that go 20 minutes'.

“Tom Parsons used to go two-and-a-half hours from Dublin to training in Castlebar. That sort of thinking is outdated in the modern era considering our responsibilities to the environment.

“We need to be making serious decisions around the number of training sessions that our players are making; if we can do that, then it will become easier to achieve genuine equality, not by bringing the female players up but by bringing everybody down to a level where amateur athletes can have a life, play and represent their county.” 

Recently elected Camogie Association president Brian Molloy said he would personally like to see his organisation’s sport continue to be called camogie, rather than hurling, once integrated with the GAA.

“It's worth noting that it's not that the GAA that's going to take over camogie and the LGFA - the current GAA won't exist,” said Molloy.

“The current GAA will be restructured. There will be significant changes implemented in what is currently the GAA. We're using the existing corporate structures of the GAA to move to this new singular Gaelic games association where camogie will have a core and visible part.”