GAA announces funding for club walking tracks in Louth

The GAA looks set to help members at a local level with the announcement of a once-off funding opportunity from Healthy Ireland designed to make community walking tracks located on GAA grounds more accessible to more people.

Open to GAA, LGFA, and Camogie clubs in the Republic of Ireland, the €800,000 funding is designed to make existing walking tracks more accessible to persons with mobility issues, such as older persons and wheelchair users.

Healthy Ireland is a long-standing partner of the Irish Life GAA Healthy Club Programme and supporter of the GAA’s efforts to maximise clubs’ positive impact on the health and wellbeing of their communities.

GAA clubs have in recent years invested heavily in the installation of walking tracks to support this outcome.

Tens of thousands of people participate annually in the GAA’s Ireland Lights Up initiative, which runs each January/February in conjunction with RTE’s Operation Transformation and has become Ireland’s biggest walking intervention.

“The GAA wants as many community members as possible to stay active by availing of our walking infrastructure” stressed An Uachtarán CLG, Larry McCarthy.

“Such amenities require constant maintenance, with quality surfaces and lighting required to ensure they are suitable for persons with mobility issues and older people. We greatly appreciate Healthy Ireland’s support in helping clubs achieve this in a sustainable way.”

The funding will be allocated via a competitive application process, which is open to all GAA, LGFA, and Camogie clubs in the Republic of Ireland with an existing walking track/amenity. Sadly, this current initiative is not open to clubs hoping to build a walking facility.

There will be a variety of amounts on offer, with clubs asked to apply for grants of up €10,000, €25,000 or all the way up to a whopping €50,000 when making their application. Approximately 22 clubs will receive the lower amount, around 12 the middle portion and just five clubs the maximum.

The funds are allocated to allow successful clubs to upgrade their tracks surface, improve access for those with mobility issues, to install/upgrade to LED lighting as to allow longer hours of usage or as a means of maintaining/upgrading the existing walking track boundaries.

“My department is delighted to support the work of the GAA Healthy Club Project with this once off funding which will help to improve wellbeing at club level” stated the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Frank Feighan when launching the grant application process last week.

“Working in partnership underpins all our work in Healthy Ireland and is key to improving the health of the entire population. This project has made a significant contribution to the Healthy Ireland agenda since it was launched.”

Any Louth clubs looking to apply for funding can do so online by contacting community.health@gaa.ie. Only one application can be submitted per club, while those that share facilities are required to submit a joint application.

The closing date for club applications is 5PM, Tuesday the 31st of January 2023. Late submissions will not be considered. All clubs will be notified of the provisional outcome of their application no later than Tuesday, the 28th of March 2023.