GAA President Jarlath Burns has launched the MIC (Mary Immaculate College) Gaelic Games Club, which comes ahead of an aim of have a fully-integrated organisation by 2027.
The establishment of the new club arrives on the 125th anniversary of the College.
Set out as a key objective of the MIC Munster GAA Centre of Excellence for Child Coaching and Gaelic Games Promotion, the club is intended to create an overarching umbrella that would unite all four codes; foster a sense of community; focus on student involvement and empowerment and will have a strong emphasis on inclusion and diversity.
Burns enthused: “Setting up a Gaelic Games Club in 2024 is a very exciting thing because you are starting off looking into that integrated future, as the next chapter prepares to be written, and I look forward to seeing you do it.”
Prof. Niamh Hourigan of MIC stressed that the club has a core mission of “promoting and embedding a love of, and interest in, Gaelic games, as well as encouraging young people’s participation at all levels, irrespective of ability”.
“We hope the foundation blocks we are laying will sustain that interest in Gaelic games throughout the lives of our students. These building blocks include supporting the development of best practice in areas of coaching, refereeing, safeguarding and general administration, and we look forward to the club contributing to the development of these skills. Here at MIC, we have the privilege of shaping tomorrow’s leaders and the establishment of a club enables us to focus on leadership skills.”
