Mr. David Britton:

I am the head of GAA Handball, a role I commenced in late 2022. GAA Handball welcomes the opportunity to address the committee on the subject of integration within the GAA.

This year is a flagship one for GAA Handball. Not only will we be hosting two world championships, in wallball and 4-wall, but we also celebrate our centenary as a member of the GAA. GAA Handball is a proud and vibrant sport with a rich history and tradition. At the core of this tradition is our membership of the GAA family. In early 2022, GAA Handball was integrated into the national GAA coaching and games development department. The impact of this integration has seen us witness progressive change occur within our organisation. As part of the integration process, a structural review of GAA Handball was conducted. The review concluded that new professional structures were required at a staffing level and that additional changes were required to the volunteer structures, primarily at ard comhairle level.

Since the beginning of the integration process, GAA Handball has seen the introduction of an entirely new staff team and staffing structure in the last 18 months. The new structure has seen the creation of three regional development officers to assist clubs and county boards at grassroots level, while developing stronger internal links through coaching and games development and also external stakeholder relationships with local sports partnerships, schools, third-level institutions and community groups to help to grow and develop the game. A new head of handball, a new competitions and membership officer and a new centre co-ordinator have also been introduced as part of this new structure. Ulster GAA has also introduced a second handball development officer within the province to work alongside the Ulster development manager.

The new professional structures within GAA Handball have already shown a measurable impact within the last 18 months. Over 300 different handball programmes have been delivered nationwide to just under 20,000 participants. The recommendations relating to the volunteer structures within GAA Handball, which emanated from the structural review, necessitated a suite of reforms being adopted within GAA Handball’s constitution. In February 2023, at national congress, all 13 proposed motions were carried by the membership. The adoption of these reforms has led to a complete restructuring at ard comhairle level and has seen the following impacts occur. New positions on the ard comhairle have been created for a national treasurer, a chair of the ladies committee, a chair for a PRO committee and a chair for a coaching and games committee. Eight new sub-committees of the ard comhairle were also created, including a finance and audit committee, a governance and risk committee, a referees and officials committee and a coaching and games development committee. New independent ard comhairle members have also been introduced.

Prior to the implementation of these reforms, GAA Handball had faced several governance challenges and was struggling to meet the compliance and governance standards set out by Sport Ireland and the code for good governance in sport. I am delighted to report that through a combination of hard work and amazing support from the GAA and Sport Ireland, GAA Handball has now reached the compliance standards required by Sport Ireland.

None of the aforementioned progress would have been possible without the support of the GAA. In particular, Tom Ryan, Shane Flanagan and his team and the various departments in the GAA have been invaluable to GAA Handball on our integration journey. GAA Handball acknowledges and thanks the GAA family for all their support and help over the last year and a half in helping GAA Handball implement these crucial changes.

I welcome continued collaboration with the steering group on integration to leverage the experience garnered by GAA Handball in our integration process in strengthening the integration process of the Camogie Association, the GAA and the LGFA.