Southside People, Page 37, 15-Oct-2008
GAA grassroots receives cash windfall

Dublin's GAA grassroots have received a cash windfall from a Gaelic Telecom initiative. Loyal and supportive fans raised €44,021 for local GAA clubs and schools in the county between January and June of this year. Dublin was the second highest earning county in the country, beaten only by Cork. Over the past four years, the GAA and Dublin fans have earned a total of €240,921 for the local Association. The innovative but simple scheme sees 15% of call costs being donated back to customers’ preferred club or school, while at the same time saving them money on their home phone and Broadband bills.

All 32 County Boards support the scheme, which sees 2,500 Clubs around the country receive cheques from Gaelic Telecom twice a year. Ciaran Doyle, general manager of Gaelic Telecom said, “It is only due to the support and loyalty of the members of the Dublin Association and the GAA itself, whose commitment to this project is invaluable, that we have been able to raise such a large sum.

Working with the fans and the Association, we, as the official telecoms partner to the GAA, are incredibly proud of the funds raised so far and hope they have made a real difference to clubs and schools in the county.” Mr. Doyle said that behind every payment to clubs and schools there was a list of ordinary members and supporters who have made this cheque possible by joining Gaelic Telecom."I encourage other Dublin GAA fans to join with us in generating even more funds for grassroots GAA locally” added Mr. Doyle.

Nickey Brennan, President of the GAA, said, “On behalf of all our members, I would once again like to thank Gaelic Telecom and its customers for their ongoing support of GAA Clubs and Schools nationwide. This significant continuous investment at grassroots level is vital to the organisation and I would urge all GAA members to consider signing up to this initiative and helping us to maximise this great funding opportunity.”