Galway GAA’s jobs for the boys (and girls)

Former GAA President Joe McDonagh has thrown his full support behind a joint initiative from the GAA Rural Communities Work Group and Communities Creating Jobs (CCJ) in a bid to generate ten new jobs for GAA members in every club in Galway by 2020.

Explaining the ‘jobs for the boys (and girls) initiative’ to the recent County Convention, Mr. McDonagh said he had seen in his role as Chairman of the Overseas Work Group the impact emigration was having on the Association’s members abroad, many of them Galway people.

However, now as Chairman of the Rural Communities Work Group at home, the former GAA President said it gave him another viewpoint and he was optimistic something could be put in place to address the issue. “Hopefully, this is the first step towards creating something exciting,” he remarked.

Set up by GAA President Liam O’Neill, the Rural Communities Work Group aims to identify current challenges faced by GAA clubs and communities in Ireland and investigate potential solutions which can be undertaken to alleviate the difficulties. This is done by identifying other agencies and other organisations which they can work with, such as CCJ.

For its part, CCJ is a movement of ordinary people based throughout Ireland who wish to do something positive and innovative on a voluntary basis to address the twin issues of unemployment and involuntary emigration.

This they do by focusing on all available resources in the community – private and state – to facilitate the creation of small-scale employment opportunities in cities, towns and villages throughout Ireland.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune – in the shops on New Year’s Eve