GPA calls for county players’ grant to be almost doubled
The Gaelic Players Association is pushing for a near doubling of the government’s investment in the inter-county player grant scheme to €10 million.Inter-county male and female players currently receive an average government grant of €1,400 paid for out of an overall pot of €5.6 millon, which is provided for by the government.In a pre-budget plea to the government, the GPA has called for this pot to be bumped up by €4.4m to €10m, which would amount to an average of €2,500 per player.Read more:GPA chief Tom Parsons confirmed at a lunchtime press conference in Dublin that the ask has been made to Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers, as well as Junior Ministers for Sport Patrick O’Donovan and Charlie McConalogue, as part of a pre-budget submission.It’s understood that five MEPs, including former GAA President Sean Kelly, have also weighed in with their support in the form of a written letter to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe.The MEPs noted that ‘amateur players who generate almost €600m in economic impact, support over 4,000 jobs and contribute €62m in exchequer revenue annually should be given due recognition of their worth’.A group of MEPs supported the additional funding case for GAA players, citing their contribution to the Irish economy.
PICTURE COLM LENAGHAN They added that this is a ‘modest investment’ which, broken down, amounts to €2.80 per day which, Parsons pointed out, doesn’t even cover the protein intake of a typical inter-county player.The government grants were first paid out in 2008 when a €3.5 million pot was put in place for male players for the first time. In 2021, female players, also represented by the GPA, were given equal funding.The government’s investment dropped to €900,000 in 2015 due to economic constraints and, crucially, hasn’t kept pace with inflation over the near 20 years of the scheme.The new purse the GPA wants for the inter-county players represents 1.6% of the overall revenue generated from inter-county gaelic games on the island of Ireland
Picture: Seamus Loughran (seamus loughran) According to the GPA, a €10 million investment by the government, now would still represent ‘just 1.6% of the €591m total economic impact generated by inter-county players annually’.If permitted, the rise to an average grant of €2,500 would be ‘the first step in a series over the lift of the government to deliver an annual grant of €4,000 by 2030’.According to the GPA’s Pre-Budget Submission 2025 booklet, this would ‘represent an annualised 1.5% increase since 2008 to reflect inflation and rising costs’.Parsons said talks so far with government figures have been ‘constructive and positive’.
