Mr. Colin Regan:

The Deputy has made a good point. The drop-off is not only happening with teenage girls but everyone at that age, and it is across all codes. We have introduced several initiatives that attempt to address that. The Deputy is correct that the competitive element turns off some young people at that critical stage in their development. When the Deputy has a chance, she might read the full submission. In recent years the games development department has introduced super games centres which are non-competitive centres. These are ongoing rather than summer-based, like the Cúl Camps, but they are their equivalent and target that teenage cohort, both male and female, to offer them the opportunity to come together in a non-competitive environment. It was only introduced in 2015, when there were only ten centres throughout the country. That grew to 115 in 2016 and 793 of our clubs last year, almost half the clubs in the country, plus 381 post-primary schools engaged in at least three sessions exploring the concept of this super games centre. It is driven by the young people themselves, rather than having a formal coaching-driven ethos. The intention is for young people to come together and formalise and regulate their games, with fun and participation at the core rather than competition.

On where we move after the Cúl Camp philosophy, the intention of the Go Games was that the volunteer coaches who put in so much time have realised that it is not necessary to introduce competitions to young people because they will find the level of competition they want themselves. Any player pathway in any sports organisation must have an element of competition to allow for those who are striving towards being the best athletes or players that they can be in their code. There has to be a pathway for elite players and that is the intercounty championships in the GAA.

We feel the Healthy Clubs project is an antidote, as it were, to the win at all costs ethos that, unfortunately, can permeate all sports. It is detrimental to the children but is driven by the adults. The Healthy Club project exposes children to nutritional advice, recommendations and best practice. During phase 2, 60 clubs participated and more than half engaged in the Recipes for Success programme. In addition to the partnership with St. Angela's, those clubs then adopted healthy eating guidelines. When I was playing, traditionally it would have been the practice to be given a packet of crisps and a fizzy drink after playing. Now they are given a bottle of water and fruit.