Mayo club participating in the GAA Green Club Programme
Ballina Stephenites GAA Club will be participating in phase one of the new GAA Green Club Programme, which has been initiated as part of the GAA’s work as an Irish Champion of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The association was selected for this by the Department of Communication, Climate Action and Environment in 2019. In keeping with the goals, sport is seen as an important enabler of sustainable development.
Ballina Stephenites is one of only five clubs chosen in Connacht and fortunate to be the only club participating in Mayo, alongside the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in Bekan, and the chosen area of focus is biodiversity.
The is also partnering with the Mary Robinson Centre as one of the many communities uniting to develop Ballina as Ireland's greenest town.
Fran Downey MacKeever, Healthy Club officer with Ballina Stephenites, said: “We are delighted to be part of this exciting new initiative developed by the GAA. We hope to achieve some meaningful green goals that will not only future-proof our club, but also position it as a sustainable leader within our community, helping it to become a sustainable, environmentally conscious place for everyone to enjoy.
“We are even more excited to have the opportunity to partner with the Mary Robinson Centre and be part of the community development and participatory process in making Ballina Ireland's greenest town.”
Although focusing primarily on biodiversity, the Stephenites will not be limited to this area of work.
Interest
The Green Club phase one participants were selected from 220 clubs that responded to a questionnaire designed to gauge interest in developing a Green Club initiative. The responses highlighted a wealth of sustainability work already being undertaken by GAA units and a desire to further contribute to the green agenda while future-proofing their communities and facilities.
Phase one will run for 12 months with the intention of amassing as much practical learnings from the participating clubs and venues as possible.
This will inform the creation of a GAA Green Clubs toolkit that will be made available to all GAA units in Ireland (1,600 clubs, plus county and provincial venues), replete with useful case studies, established partnership models, and funding avenues.
GAA president John Horan said: “The Green Clubs Programme further demonstrates that at its core, the GAA is a community-based organisation grounded in place. The project seeks to support our hard-working volunteers in future-proofing their club facilities while contributing to the sustainability of their community from an environmental and cultural perspective. It also demonstrates the GAA’s commitment as an official SDG Champion of the Irish government.”