Gaelic games continuing to make positive impact

By Dr Tom Hunt

December is the month when investment in the GAA’s Runaway Train is exposed to public scrutiny. In 2024, 18 counties invested over €1 million each in the maintenance of the train and the cost is increasing annually. Galway invested €2.7 million, Cork €2.3m and Tipperary €2.1 million to keep the train in running order. One of the issues with the train is that new extra parts have been annually required so that total investment in the vehicle for 2024 surpassed €40 million.

There is little doubt that when the GAA celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2034, the annual cost will be well in excess of €100 million as the train will require significant modification to increase its capacity to accommodate male and female athletes. The cost of maintaining the GAA’s amateur status does not come cheaply.

In 2024, the Runaway Train attracted more public attention than normal with the decision of the Revenue Commissioners to inspect some of its moving parts and this inspection may add to the maintenance expenses. It is money wisely invested as the train is a multi-functional vehicle.

It is somewhat of a Mystery Train as the investment in the various parts is knowledge confined to just a select few in each county; some within the GAA community have been known to dismiss the train as the Gravy Train, but that is a bit unfair to the maintenance men and women who work so hard.

Unfortunately, the focus on the annual financial returns of the various counties may have deflected attention from a very important independent study published in mid-November on the economic and social value of Gaelic Games.

The study entitled The Economic and Social Value of Gaelic Games on the Island of Ireland was commissioned by the GAA and was the independent work of the Sport Industry Research Centre of the Sheffield Hallam University, the Institute of Sport of Manchester Metropolitan University and the School of Sport and Exercise Science of the Ulster University.

The report is full of interesting material. The contribution of Gaelic Games to the economy is measured by the creation of what researchers term a Satellite Account. The technique used for this purpose was developed by the United Nations and was designed to measure the economic size of sectors not classified as distinct industries in national accounts.

The economic impact was measured from a number of different perspectives and in particular consumer spending, Gross Value Added (GVA), employment and turnover for the year 2022. Consumer spending on Gaelic Games in Ireland was found to be €377 million, which is equivalent to €54 per head of population, or €65 per adult in Ireland. This spending is distributed between €345 million in the Republic of Ireland and €28 million in Northern Ireland. This expenditure includes spending in the sports equipment market of €46 million and expenditure on clothing and footwear of €33 million.

The GVA of Gaelic Games essentially measures the economic activities generated by involvement in the games and were valued at €710 million annually with education contributing €225 million of the total (32%) and construction €68 million with services linked to digital communication, IT insurance and legal services another €62 million. GVA is the finance generated by the developments that clubs such as Tyrrellspass, St Mary’s Rochfortbridge, St Loman’s, The Downs, Shandonagh and Milltownpass as well as developments several others have engaged in recently. The report estimated that the GVA generated by Gaelic Games amounts to 8.7% of the total GVA of the sports industry.

Economic activity generated by Gaelic Games creates considerable employment in associated industries of approximately 10,600 full time equivalent jobs of which 9,500 are in the Republic of Ireland and 1,100 in Northern Ireland. This level of employment accounts for 9.8% of all jobs created by the total sport economy.

The level of turnover associated with the economic activity is a massive €1.619 million over €1.5 billion of this is generated in the Republic of Ireland. This includes ticket sales, merchandise, broadcasting rights, sponsorship deals, food and drink sales, medical activities etc. The construction industry is the major beneficiary generating €273 million from its Gaelic Games generated activities.

The Satellite Account Model is also used to calculate government earnings from tax receipts (income tax, VAT, corporation taxes) from Gaelic Games associated economic activities. These taxes contribute approximately €192.6m annually to the Irish government. This compares rather unfavourably with the total value of grants of €64 million allocated to Gaelic Games in 2022 through the Sports Capital Funding. Gaelic Games gives the government roughly three times what It receives back in funding. When it is take into account that Sports Capital Funding isn’t distributed annually the gap is far greater than a factor of 3.

Another strand of the research involved a study of the economic impact of major Gaelic Games events. Detailed economic impact studies of the 2024 Ulster Football Final and the Munster Hurling finals were carried out and form separate chapters of the report.

After evaluating the various economic indices involved, the authors reported that they could ‘with reasonable confidence state that the Ulster Senior Championship [Final] brought in an additional €1.365 million to the town of Clones … Equally we can say that €3.62 million of new money was brought into Co. Tipperary, of which 80% was spent in Thurles’.

The Social Return on Investment research discovered that the total value of inputs to produce Gaelic Games amounted to €1,244 billion; the social outcomes from this investment was given a monetary value estimated at €2.87 billion. The inputs produced outcomes valued at €31.06 million for health, for example. For every €1 invested into Gaelic Games activity, the value returned to individuals, wider communities and society is at least €2.30. The replacement cost of volunteering was estimated to be €1.056 billion.

The study provides some context for the findings by measuring the scale of Gaelic Games through the lenses of clubs and financial resources. The total number of members registered in clubs in 2022 was 850,947; of these 65% were GAA members, 21% LGFA and 14% Camogie Association members. These are members of 2,403 different clubs of which 1,695 are stand-alone clubs and 1,608 operate One Club models. These figures indicate that already there is a trend towards integration.

Analysis of sets of accounts provided evidence that the administration of Gaelic Games was a €272million business in 2022; GAA units at national, provincial and county level had a combined income of more than €0.25 billion in 2022. In comparison the turnover of Sport Ireland was €150.7m, the IRFU was €115.5m and the FAI was €54m. Nothing compares to the GAA and the report noted that ‘the LGFA and CA have much to gain by aligning themselves with the financial scale of the GAA’.

Particular note was made of the 152 people that the GAA employed at national level with a payroll that equated to around 6% of the association’s income which in turn reinforces the significance of the contribution made by volunteers. Those who claim that the GAA is overstaffed will be disappointed with this finding and in particular the conclusion that ‘there are very few businesses which can claim to generate €913 per employee’.

Uniquely, the researchers were provided with 513 sets of annual accounts from GAA clubs including 15 from Westmeath clubs. From these, it was estimated that the turnover of Gaelic Games clubs in 2022 was €222 million. This gives a combined national, provincial, county and club total for the administration of Gaelic Games of almost €0.5 billion €494m).

In conclusion, the report provides independent, evidence-based detail that confirms that the Gaelic Games are good for Ireland both socially and economically.