The GAA's new multi-million Games Development budget model will be unveiled in the coming weeks, with GAA director general Tom Ryan stating it should deliver for all counties.
At the publication of the GAA's 2021 financial report, it was confirmed that a strategic plan for the association will be launched shortly, including the thorny issue of funding distribution through the Games Development budget.
From 2007-2020 Dublin received more than €21m, a proportion of development funding that exceeded its share of the population in the 26 counties (39% to 28%).
It was revealed that Dublin received €1.189m in 2021, with the next closest county Meath receiving €711,032.
Dublin’s dominance of the Leinster and All-Ireland senior football championships over the past decade, and the county’s superior commercial income, has led to questions about whether the policy is still necessary.
"It's clear over the course of the last couple of years that we needed to do something about it and revise it," Ryan said today.
At that time, Ryan wrote to county chairs to tell them that a sub-group of the association's Games Development Committee was devising a new model and mechanism for the distribution of coaching and games funding.
A final decision on that new model will be made by Central Council at a meeting on the eve of Congress at the end of the month, while a separate proposal to distribute the funding solely based on player numbers will also be discussed by Central Council.
"The overall funding framework will be different to what went before in that it will ensure investment is needs-based, and content specific by the introduction of a benchmarking toolkit to enhance the planning process," Ryan said.
"Another feature will be a move towards a multi-annual funding approach whereby counties will be allocated a sum for four years," said Ryan, who also revealed that the overall budget would increase to €12m annually.
"The new model will bring greater ownership locally, but we also will want to see increased accountability. What we hope to have in place is a model that will deliver for each county."
Elaborating on the new proposal, Ryan said it was likely there would be a "diminution" in the level of funding to one county and an increase in funding to most counties, with 25% of the budget allocated for specific business cases, and the remaining 75% to be broken down into three criteria:
- 60% based on player numbers
- 25% based on the number of clubs
- 15% based on participation numbers
A campaign for a change in how funding is distributed that has been spearheaded by former Westmeath footballer John Connellan, who had been promoting a motion that specifies funding based on registered GAA members in each county up to a maximum variance of five per cent.
