Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I join in welcoming Mr. Regan to the committee today. We have heard of a number of tremendous and positive initiatives. It is good to have crystallisation of what the GAA is doing right down to the local community, because sometimes we think of the GAA in binary terms, whether hurling or football, camogie or handball and so on. Often, we think of the GAA in binary terms and in an intercounty context only. As policymakers we might not fully appreciate what happens across the land except perhaps through the prism of our individual clubs.

Given that we are good parochial people, I am keen to hear more about the fun and run activity. My club in Mallow, County Cork, has world-class facilities. We have a multimillion euro facility. It is something that could be used as a hub for the Munster region for outworking in that regard. I would be delighted to work with the GAA on this. We should not simply look at the facility in terms of Mallow but from the Munster or regional perspective given its specific location. Perhaps I will share more with Mr. Regan on that afterwards.

We cannot underestimate the metrics Mr. Regan has given us today. The key metric is the top-line metric, which is a total of 142,467 participants in the Cúl Camps. It is the biggest child sport promotion in the world. That is a phenomenal metric for what is an indigenous sport when we look at it in global terms. We should be shouting that metric from the rooftops. It is testament to the lateral thinking that now exists within the GAA. The GAA sees itself as having a clear social function. The association sees itself as having responsibilities to its community right down to the neighbourhood. Committee members are delighted to hear the metric in the context of our deliberations on tackling obesity.

Does Mr. Regan believe more needs to be done in outreach to primary schools? Are some primary schools not being reached? Is the ability to get in the front door hampered for certain reasons? If so, what are the reasons?