Mr. John Horan:

I thank the Cathaoirleach for that. I was thinking we might be here until 6 p.m. if I had to deal with all the questions I have been asked today. On behalf of the association, I thank everybody for their comments to the organisation I am representing as uachtarán today.

A great volunteer effort and commitment to Irish society is made by our 750,000 members nationally and by our club structure.

On a sad note, I concur with the comments of Senators Gallagher and Ardagh on the loss of four of our members in Donegal. It is an area I know well. In fact, I attended the dinner dance of the Cloughaneely GAA club on 28 December 2018 when Fr. Sean Ó Gallchóir was MC on the night. I saw his name quoted in the newspapers over the last few days as he visited the scene and the bereaved families of those young lads we have lost. I have been in touch also with the chairman of Donegal County Council, who is also a member of our managing committee. The Ulster council and the Donegal county board have rowed in, as the GAA always does, in support of those families in their deeply sad loss.

I always knew the GAA brief was broad, but the brief before me today is very broad indeed. I refer to the LGFA and our relationship with camogie. We have made a great deal of progress recently within a short period by drawing up a memorandum of understanding. It is a very detailed document and it is due to be implemented in full in the next three years. One area in particular that has caused concern historically is property. We always think of The Fieldwhen we think of Ireland. We have put protocols in place to make it much easier for camogie and ladies football to access GAA pitches. The question of membership was also raised by Members. The membership issue is slightly skewed but we have put a subcommittee in place to look again at getting a common membership across the board. Membership for camogie and ladies football involves two completely different organisations which cater for women. One then has membership of the GAA. One also could be a member for handball. We intend, working closely with both organisations, to streamline that area and improve it.

Rural decline was brought up. I do not want to sound political but I will be very honest as that is my style. The GAA is helping with rural decline, not causing it. We are not the ones closing post offices and failing to deliver the Internet to rural parts of this country. It is our members in those areas, however, who are finding it necessary to leave their local communities, move to the east coast or go to foreign shores. These are the problems which need to be solved. While we will be there to provide the facilities and the networks, we cannot, ultimately, be held responsible for rural decline.

Tickets were mentioned. The only heartening thing I got from the events of last week was, as I mentioned in my opening statement, how relevant we are as an organisation. Every television and radio show and newspaper went on about the fact that the GAA had increased the price of its tickets. I will point out a few facts. A lot of Members said today that the GAA clubs in their communities were very important. When we decided to raise the price of our tickets, we put in place a programme of spending for the increased revenue. As an association, we have decided to increase our grants to clubs throughout the country from €2 million to €4 million in the space of four years. Funds must be obtained to do that. The grants for those clubs will increase employment locally through investment in infrastructure projects. That is where we are putting €500,000 of the extra revenue.

We have also referred today to the importance of the GAA to our diaspora. I am sure many Members have visited cities internationally in which the GAA has clubs. Those clubs are important to young Irish people who travel overseas looking for employment and contacts, having found themselves away from home for the first time. They are looking for a social outlet and GAA clubs in those cities provide that. However, the GAA units in those parts of the world must be funded to operate. As such, €200,000 of our increased revenue will go to those international units. They do not have large sponsors or significant gate receipts and we must help them from home. We do a great deal of work with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. People in this country must recognise that we will not continue to get people into America in the way we did in the past.

Unless we promote Irish culture, be it the language, dancing, music or games, in the US, our relevance in the Irish community in the US will decrease. Last August, I attended the continental youth championships in Boston. It is a family holiday for all those families that were there. To give Members an idea of its importance, the city of Buffalo brought in increased revenue of $3 million through hosting the previous year's the continental youth championships. All this came from hosting a GAA event for four days. That is another day where our increased revenue has gone.

We are also directing funding to improve the facilities we provide for our supporters in county grounds. I think somebody alluded to and made a little dig regarding Newbridge, which needs a new stand. Delivering it is on our agenda. Navan needs a new stand and delivering this is also on our agenda. Senator Coffey will be delighted that helping Waterford with regard to its progress is also on the agenda. That work cannot be done unless we have a revenue stream and that is what we did that for. We are also giving the rest of the money back to the county boards.

On a point of information, last Thursday, before the start of our national league, we sold over 3,000 more season tickets than we did the previous year. This was during the height of the criticism of our price increases. Attendances at our national league games last Sunday marginally increased to 87,000 from the previous figure of 86,000. People may want to criticise us but the decision made at the central council - I will answer the question about the vote - was unanimous because we made the case to the people that we were raising prices to do something with the money for our membership and the community that exists within this country. We will not apologise for doing good work on the ground. In relative terms, regarding the actual attention we received, I looked at it as being a case of the glass being half full rather than half empty.

Some Members have complimented our staff. Two of my staff are with me today, namely, Alan Milton from communications and my PA, Teresa Rehill. Senator Conway alluded to the courtesies shown by both the president's office and the ard stiúrthóir's office. That is all one now and is the responsibility of Ms Rehill.

Senator O'Mahony raised the issue of Fáilte Ireland. We have tried on numerous occasions to build a better relationship with Fáilte Ireland and have made a bit of progress lately. We will have a launch in the embassy in London to promote the Connacht championship over there, so that is progress. Even my own club makes a contribution to the GAA in terms of its international context. Experience Gaelic Games is a programme running in my own club, which is very close to Croke Park. We link in with and bring tourists to our club to give them information about hurling, Gaelic football and the historical background of the GAA.

The issue of funding for counties was raised and the disparity therein. A certain angle is being taken with regard to statistics. The one thing I will say is that a large part of the extra funding that goes to Dublin goes to schools. The coaching programme we drive on goes to schools. The population of young children is in Dublin and that is where the money is going. Somebody raised the point about inclusion. If we are to have inclusion with the GAA, the only way we will get those non-nationals - or internationals to use a more correct term - that is, people who arrive in our country to get involved in our games is to get to them in schools and then encourage them to join clubs. Naturally, people coming from other lands to Ireland will see a big institution like a GAA club but if a child says he or she wants to go down and see the coach he or she met in school, the child will go down. When people from a foreign culture come to Ireland, they come with international sports such as soccer, rugby or basketball. As a school principal, I found this to be the case. We had quite a proportion of students from the Philippines because we were very close to the Mater Hospital and they were all into basketball. We had eastern Europeans who took to rugby while others took to soccer so people come to Ireland with their own sporting cultures. We tend to get more international buy-in to our sports through primary schools than at second level.

I think Senator Davitt made a comment about politics.

I think it is Mr. Seán Kelly who construed the great phrase, "There is politics and then there is GAA politics." Senator Davitt was well trained before he arrived here. We taught him well.

Among other points that were raised was Scór, culture, music and dance. We have celebrated the start of our 50th year of promoting Scór throughout the country. In Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night last, I attended a programme organised by the Munster council in promoting Scór. There will be a follow-on in the other provinces throughout the country.

Senator Conway-Walsh mentioned the idea of an all-party group. I would be more than open to some relationship between ourselves in Croke Park and an all-party group here where we could work to each other's benefit.

Senator Paul Daly raised the issue of fixtures in clubs. We are aware of all that. We are aware of the problems therein and we are doing our best. Unfortunately, across such a range of issues, it is complex. We have different underage groups, we have colleges, we have hurling and football, and we have club and county. It is a complex issue but we are quite aware of it.

Senator Boyhan raised the issue of his Church of Ireland religion. I am proud to say that Jack Boothman, one of my predecessors as president of this organisation, came from that church.

Another area raised was television rights. I will go on the record here and say I am delighted to see RTÉ has improved its performance in showing our games. Sunday night last was a perfect example of it where we got two hours of promotion of our games. We are the national game and it is the national broadcaster. GAAGO provides a wonderful opportunity for our members throughout the world to see the games. I visited a club in Toronto last May and I was able to text my wife sitting in Parnell Park and tell her, "I see you are wearing a white jacket today", such was the clarity of the picture that I, sitting in my hotel room in Toronto, was getting of Kilkenny playing Dublin in Parnell Park. We are doing our best. The word "Sky" is touchy with some people. We are a democratic organisation. We have put it in front of our membership, they are happy where it is, and that is what it is.

There are difficulties with the broadcasting of our games in Northern Ireland. In trying to resolve it, we have met representatives from the community up there. It is not all our problem. We have done our best to promote the game in Belfast. We have put a €5 million project together called "Gaelfast" to drive on the promotion of our games.

I will correct one point for the record because I think that is the norm in the House. Belmullet won the intermediate championship, not the junior championship, in Mayo.