Lack of volunteers is 'one of the most serious issues', insists Cork chairman
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Cork County Board chairman Pat Horgan has questioned whether the GAA is making it more difficult for clubs to recruit volunteers.
The lack of volunteers, according to the Cork chair, is “one of the most serious issues” facing the association.
“Volunteerism, I spoke about the very worrying nature of it last year. Well, having engaged with the clubs over the last few weeks, this problem has not gone away. And if anything, it is getting more serious. I believe the lack of volunteers is one of the most serious issues facing the association in our county,” said Horgan.
“GAA volunteers contribute so much to the cultural, social, and economic fabric of Ireland. Clubs are having huge difficulty in securing adult underage officers, adult underage mentors. Modern society has made it more difficult, definitely. But I just wonder has the association made it more difficult?
“This is a question I will be discussing with the county board’s new planning and training officer, Susan O'Brien, over the next number of weeks to see what we can do to help out the clubs.”
Touching on the recent analysis by international experts that estimated the Social Value of Gaelic games to be worth at least €2.87bn to Irish society, Horgan said it is a report the GAA can use to “demand our fair share of the exchequer”.
“Now we have it down there on a study, we can go to City Hall, to Government, and it is indeed something that we can demand our fair share of the exchequer, so I think that is a very, very important report.
“But I don't think there was anything in it that we all didn't know. We certainly knew that, and we had been saying that in discussions with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance, City Council, anybody we have met over the last year or two, we have been hammering home that point.
“The bottom line is; we are sending a clear message out that we are coming looking for our fair share, the GAA deserves it.”
Elsewhere, former Dublin manager Adrian O’Sullivan is the new Cork camogie coach. All-Ireland-winning Cork boss Ger Manley has been on the hunt for a new coach ever since the highly regarded Liam Cronin departed the set-up at the beginning of October to join John Kiely’s Limerick backroom team.
O’Sullivan managed the Dublin senior camogie team in 2021 and 2022, reaching the All-Ireland quarter-final in the second of his two-year stint.
A Limerick native, he also previously coached University of Limerick to back-to-back Ashbourne Cups in 2018 and 2019.
Cork, in 2025, will go after a first three-in-a-row of O’Duffy Cups since 1972.
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