Mr. John Kelly:

I am representing the GAA and have spent 35 years working with communities. I have always been deeply impressed by the contribution the GAA has made to the life of communities in so many parishes and townlands around the country and beyond. The heading "Community of Faith" still defines the GAA.

I am just representing Kerry today but this is a national problem. The GAA is a community organisation and caters for everybody - young and old, men and women. It has also made a huge contribution to the economy through the purchase of equipment.

In 2010, the Kerry county board commissioned a survey or report which makes for dire reading. A number of clubs have gone into decline, including the one that Micheál's father, Mick O'Connell, who won many All-Irelands with Kerry, played with. At the moment they face becoming defunct.

The big problem is that if small rural GAA clubs - as with small rural schools and post offices - become defunct and people move away to work in urban areas, the infrastructure will no longer be there. It is impossible to get land in urban areas for school playing fields. With population growth, we have found that is the case, particularly in Killarney and Tralee. We are therefore advocating that more facilities and opportunities should be made available in rural areas.

I have also been working at Croke Park on the problem of rural isolation with Ms Colleen Regan. During her period in office, the former President Mary McAleese and her husband Martin became very concerned about rural isolation. I was on a committee in Croke Park dealing with that issue. In addition, I was involved with a report which the South Kerry Development Partnership commissioned in 2010.

When considering rural isolation we found that three things were required, namely, rural transport, the rural social scheme, and local community involvement and interaction. We found that such areas used to have the mart, mass and fairs. The fairs and creameries have gone now, however. All that is left for people in isolated areas therefore is the rural pub, which is also in decline. The only outlet many people had in such areas was to go to the local GAA field. If the rural GAA clubs go, that will be gone too.

In 2010, the coroner for south Kerry, Mr. Terence Casey, found that suicide was increasing in the county. It is a national problem with 600 people dying per year by suicide. The graph is moving towards the elderly in rural areas, including south Kerry. There is much concern about this, including the concerns voiced by the coroner.

We are trying to address the problem by providing services in community halls. Our own Spa GAA club outside Killarney has social activities, including card drives which we also take around to local community centres. We are seeking efforts to halt the rural decay of the GAA. The GAA should be part of the rural forum. We do not want to lose small communities where there is great interaction and social cohesion - some people call it social capital - between young and old. It is a great asset to communities. Providing the infrastructure, however, is a difficult problem.

Deputies Healy-Rae and Fleming mentioned flooding. I live near the River Flesk where there was a serious flooding problem for a number of years. In that case, they moved in a Hymac and lowered the river bed, removed stones and drained the surrounding area, thus solving the problem. There has been no more flooding, although there had been for a number of years previously. In addition, they erected barriers on the river banks to improve it. It was a very simple process.

I advocate the establishment of a rural forum. We are working closely with Mr. Pat Spillane and had a good meeting with him last week.