Gaelic Games clubs eligible to apply for ‘Sport for All’ Disability Supports Club Fund under Dormant Accounts Funding

The online application process for Gaelic Games clubs will open on Friday, August 12th and close on Friday, August 26th.

Sport Ireland this week launched a ‘Sport for All’ Disability Supports Club Fund as part of this year’s National Governing Bodies Dormant Accounts Funding.

The scheme is open to all affiliated clubs in the Gaelic Games family (GAA, Camogie, LGFA, Handball, and Rounders) and is designed to support them in the provision of inclusive programmes and supports for people with a disability. The fund is designed to support new inclusive initiates and/or enhance those already established in Gaelic Games clubs.

The GAA Community & Health department in Croke Park is managing the club application process for the fund. A consolidated submission including all club applications that meet the necessary criteria will be forwarded to Sport Ireland by the September 1st deadline.

Clubs can apply for funding of between €1,000 and €5,000 to support the following areas:

  1. Disability Supports Education & Training
  2. Disability Supports Programme Activation and Delivery
  3. Disability Supports Small Scale Equipment and Infrastructure.

Additional essential criteria for clubs applying for funding include:

  • Club safeguarding statement in place
  • Club children’s officer in place
  • Coaches and volunteers who work with underage individuals/teams and vulnerable adults Garda Vetted

An application process for clubs, including a requirement to detail each club’s respective funding request under the three categories above, will open on Friday, August 12th and close on Friday, August 26th. (Details will be issued to club secretaries across all units when the process goes live.)

It is anticipated that an announcement of funding allocations will be made by December 2022. Applying does not guarantee that funding will be approved.

Speaking about the Dormant Accounts Funding, Minister of State for Sport and the Gaeltacht, Jack Chambers TD, said: “The NGB Club Fund being launched today responds directly to the commitment made in the Sport Action Plan 2021-2023 that I launched last November. Helping the sports sector, especially the club network, to recover from the damage caused by the pandemic is one of my top priorities alongside the promotion of a “sport-for-all” ethos across the sector. There’s €2million being set aside under this new Fund and it presents a great opportunity for sports clubs everywhere to consider how they might make their sport even more accessible for people in their communities, especially those with a disability. Sport can offer so many benefits to people’s health and wellbeing and we need to make that a reality on the ground for more and more people.”