Integration could mean €11.5m annual inter-county costs as report outlines minimum standards plan

The document was produced in July by a sub-committee of the Mary McAleese-led steering group on integration.

Then Steering Committee chairperson Mary McAleese speaking during a media update on the integration process at Croke Park. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Inter-county costs would immediately jump to a baseline figure of €11.5 million per annum in the initial stage of integration, a report has revealed.

The document, produced in July by a sub-committee of Mary McAleese-led steering group on integration, outlined a minimum standards charter for inter-county players across the GAA, Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) and The Camogie Association.

The group highlighted the average cost of running a men’s inter-county team was €518,000, while it was estimated the average for a female group was €130,000.

In their proposal, the 61 female teams (33 LGFA and 28 camogie) would fall under a “minimum tier 2 charter” whereby their minimum spend would be €300,000, a total of €18.3m. Subtracting the estimated current spend on the female sides of €7.93m, the shortfall is calculated as €10.37m.

However, it was noted 15 counties’ hurling teams’ current spending also falls below that €300k mark and they would have to increase as well as one senior football county. The combination of bringing up their amounts would be €1.079m and increase the total cost to €11.449m per annum. That figure would be footed by the counties, an average yearly cost to each of approximately €360k.

The total mileage cost for male inter-county players is currently €7m per annum, which would be expected to double under integration. It is envisaged counties would pay approximately €12m of the €14m in mileage per annum with panels of 32 players eligible for the expenses. The other €2m would be sourced centrally.

The body suggested the funding to make the new minimum standards charter a reality could be found by adding a €5/€10 levy to inter-county ticket prices across the board, which would bring in €5m. They also pinpointed €1m allocations from each of GAA+, the coaching and games department, capital funding for five years and identifying efficiencies in central areas as well as marketing.

Interestingly, they also sought to end the current inter-county players’ weekly €20 nutrition grant, which costs €1m per annum. They also proposed stopping the GAA’s grants for team holidays, which comes to €900k per annum, for five years.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, GPA chief executive Tom Parsons, who was part of the workgroup, said the cost of integration in preparing inter-county teams would be between €4.5m to €5m per annum.

“That may come out from some GAA representative that they can’t afford the €40m to go to €80m,” he told Off the Ball. 

“I worked on the sub-committee of the steering group and we developed a minimum standards charter for inter-county players and the cost was an additional €5m per year over two years.” 

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s News At One on Wednesday, GAA president Jarlath Burns had questioned the figure quoted by Parsons. “I would urge the GPA to work with us on this because I note some of the comments that they have made over the last 24 hours have been inaccurate around the costs of integration at the high-performance level.” 

Parsons had also spoken recently about each inter-county team deserving an end-of-season holiday. “I think every team should be given a few bob at the end of the year to go on a team holiday,” he told Radio Kerry’s Stand Out with Ian O’Connell.

The sub-committee also proposed three management team members would receive mileage expenses as per the player mileage rate, while a maximum of 10 in the backroom team would receive expenses only, which would include €30,000 for doctor, physio strength and conditioning and rehab specialists.

In 2024, The Camogie Association received €1.2m from the GAA towards kickstarting their minimum standards players charter (2024-27), while the LGFA were given €800k for the same purpose. The GAA provides each organisation with €500k towards satisfying the charters.

As per the motion voted in 2022, equality is the objective of full integration and GAA president Jarlath Burns has stressed that means replicating the men’s total in the women’s codes. The Irish Examiner calculated the 2025 spending across Gaelic football and hurling teams was €45.6m.

The sub-committee acknowledged there was a “clear and obvious fear within counties” that the combined cost of funding men’s and women’s inter-county teams will rise to €90m.

“If we go straight into equality, the €45m which we currently spend preparing county teams goes to €90m,” Burns said on Wednesday. “We just simply cannot sustain that.” Burns has formed a committee to formulate an inter-county certification programme to help reduce the year-on-year spending by counties, described by former Munster and Kerry treasurer Dermot “Weeshie” Lynch eight years as “a runaway train” when it was €26.38m.

Minister for Sport Patrick O’Donovan indicated on Wednesday that his department would be willing to assist the integration process. “Three associations have voted for this, but what I did offer was through Sport Ireland, who are our agency, that if there is assistance at an external point in terms of support to the three associations around the speed at which integration can take place then the department would look very favourably on any request that comes in on that.”