Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy made an important point. One of the key things we tried to emphasise in the redesign of this fund, in conjunction with the GAA, was to move away from once-off sponsorship and to a programme of ongoing development, particularly in respect of trying to strengthen clubs at grassroots level and the skill level to benefit clubs. This refocusing is designed to give a much longer-term benefit to clubs on the ground, in contrast to some of the previous once-off sponsorship.

We will continue to review this programme. It has been incredibly successful and I was pleased we were able to increase the support provided for it. It is the type of programme that is at the heart of where we see this development and a role model for involvement by ourselves and the GAA in the diaspora context.

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