‘We must stand up for people who live in our rural towns and villages’

BY KIERAN McCARTHY

NEW Cork County Board Chairman Pat Horgan has pledged to stand up for GAA clubs affected by rural depopulation.

The Midleton man assumed his new role at the county convention held on Tuesday night, succeeding Marc Sheehan, while Clonakilty clubman Noel O’Callaghan is the new county vice-chairman.

In his first address as chairman, Horgan revealed that he is putting in place a Demographics Committee, to be led by Eoghan O’Connor as County Demographics Officer, to examine the issues of urbanisation and rural depopulation.

Denis Callanan (Carbery Rangers), Padjoe Connolly (Bantry Blues), Colman O'Mahony (Bandon) and Donal Leahy (Tadhg MacCarthaigh) at the convention.

While Horgan highlighted that census data has shown that the population of the county increased by almost 40,000 from 2016 to 2022, he pointed out this is mostly seen in the city and larger towns, whereas there the problem of falling numbers is hurting rural clubs.

‘Many of our clubs face declining populations from which to attract their members,’ the new chairman said.

‘Several clubs have skirted with going out of existence. It’s not for the want of trying by volunteers. In many cases, the young population from which we field our teams are no longer there. In part, demographics are against us.

‘We hear evidence where only a handful of children start primary school in some parishes. In other cases, housing and urban planning decisions have driven people from rural areas to our towns and cities. We must stand up for those people who live in our rural towns and villages. It is imperative that clubs in these areas are supported to field every year.

‘The first time that a club goes a season without fielding a team, it is doubly difficult to field the following year. Eoghan O’Connor has been appointed as County Demographics Officer, and I am putting in place a Demographics Committee composed of experts in this area.

‘This group will work alongside our Games Development personnel and our fixtures making bodies to identify the scale of the problem across the County and, based on evidence specific to our county, provide recommendations on how we can support our clubs – both those experiencing significant increases in participation and those struggling for numbers.’

Horgan will also task the Demographics Committee to conduct an audit of facilities across the county.

‘The issue of facilities has been discussed several times at county board level and beyond. While Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Peairc Uí Rinn have become model facilities for counties across the Association, there is still a struggle to identify venues for inter-county teams to train,’ he noted.

‘The absence of a dedicated multi-pitch centre for Gaelic games is an ongoing issue. Several of our competitor counties have such facilities.

‘There is no doubt that recent increases in participation, growing urbanisation, and integration will place additional challenges on the provision of facilities across the county. Many of our clubs extract the maximum possible pitch time from their facilities.

‘In the coming weeks, I will ask our Demographics Committee to conduct an audit of facilities across the county, to identify areas of specific concern. We will work with clubs to support them in accessing funding from the Sports Capital grant scheme, as well as provincial, and national GAA sources. We will also make representations to Croke Park on the need for enhanced facilities across the county.’