GAA under threat

THE Gaelic Athletic Association, the cornerstone of communities throughout Ireland, is under a growing threat due the flight of players, not to other codes but to emigration.

The organisation has come on light years from the days of togging out on the side of a ditch and a very basic programme of games, to one where you have top class local pitches, an incredible busy schedule of games and the jewel in the crown, Croke Park, a stadium to rival any in the world.
However, such great progress is being undermined by the recession. Company closures, coupled with a lack of job opportunities, leave young men and women few options. More and more, those with particular skills or third level qualifications are heading to pastures greener in search of work. Emigration is masking the true level of unemployment.
Rural GAA clubs in particular are suffering, as the loss of young men to emigration is presenting difficulties in raising numbers for teams.  It is also a problem for camogie and ladies football clubs.
The situation in Clare represents the country in microcosm. Recently, on one single day, 17 young men from North Clare boarded planes at Shannon Airport, some to take up work abroad, others to seek work.
According to the GAA website, 50 players from Clare have transferred this year to clubs outside the country, mainly to Britain, followed by the US, Australia and New Zealand. This is only the tip of the iceberg as many players who leave home don’t go through the formalities of looking for a transfer.
A survey by Clare GAA’s games manager, Sean Chaplin, has uncovered some disturbing details about the exodus of players over the past three years.  Answers provided by 41 of the 52 clubs surveyed have confirmed that 200 players have left their clubs. It is expected this figure will grow as other clubs submit their completed forms. Of the 200, only three left with families while the majority were young men just out of college or who had served apprenticeships but couldn’t get work.
Sean Chaplin has been tasked with putting together a plan to help Clare clubs in trying to retain players. Last year, the county board set up a special committee to assist players in getting work and there were a number of successful placements. This concept needs to be broadened as one job saved or created could be the difference between a season best forgotten or one rounded off with a county title for a club.  These club players should form part of the larger national team with the  skills and intellect necessary to counter the recession.

Cameras for the greater good
CLARE drivers, watch out, you’re on candid camera. As part of the new garda mobile safety cameras initiative, 17 stretches of Clare roads are covered by the scheme, the main objective of which is to save lives through a reduction in fatal and serious speed-related collisions.
Areas in Clare where motorists can expect their speed to be monitored are two stretches in North Clare, five sections of road in West Clare, three in the general Ennis area and six in East Clare. In total, there are 518 zones across Ireland where safety cameras will operate 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Each zone may contain several sites in which the safety cameras will operate. A county-by-county breakdown of the zones is now available, along with a list of frequently asked questions about the project, on the garda website or via facebook.
Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, responding to suggestions that the road camera initiative is designed to generate funds for State coffers, said he would be quite happy if they did not realise any fines. This would show, he said, that the cameras are having the desired effect and that drivers are indeed adhering to speed limits.
The minister also categorically rejected a suggestion that there is a revenue earning incentive for GoSafe, the private company operating the camera network, to “catch” drivers. He stressed that the company is paid at a particular rate, irrespective of the speeding offences detected.
These points have been reiterated by Inspector John Galvin, head of the Clare Traffic Corps, in calling on local drivers to accept their responsibilities. “The purpose of the camera is to reduce death and carnage on the roads and to slow people down. We want compliance not detections and we’re hoping that no one is caught.”
When a motorist is detected speeding, the offence details and images will be validated and the vehicle registration number recorded by GoSafe. The data will be sent to the Garda IT Section and a fixed charge notice will issue. Failure to pay will result in a court summons.
Initially, 15 camera vans will monitor accident blackspots across the country with the aim of changing driver behaviour, but by February, there will be up to 45 cameras in operation. The gardaí are adopting an open book approach as to where they intend to target, so it will be drilled into drivers’ consciousness that speeding, especially on bad sections of road, is totally unacceptable.
Of course, driving within the speed limits and at speeds appropriate to weather and road conditions is fundamental to good driving. For responsible drivers, the new cameras should hold no fears. They are there for the greater good even through you will, no doubt, have drivers pleading that their heavy foot on the acceleration was a minor aberration.
This Sunday is world day of remembrance for road traffic victims, people who were killed and injured and in thinking of them, just focus on how many were family, friends or close acquaintances. We must all endeavour not to do anything that would add to the toll of misery, whether to others or indeed ourselves.