Tús maith

[seafoid]

I think this is a great start but how can the GAA community do more to help young unemployed players ?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/1217/1224285733700.html

GAELIC GAMES NEWS:  IN AN effort to address unemployment and emigration of young GAA members, the director general of the association Páraic Duffy met the Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív last Wednesday before endorsing the "Tús" (meaning "Start") initiative. The FAI and other sporting associations were also present.

As many as 200 GAA members currently unemployed will receive an additional €20 on their weekly social welfare payment of €188 by working as coaches in their local community for 19½ hours a week.
Up to 5,000 people in total are expected to take part in the scheme. As a result, they will be taken off the live register.

[spuds]

[seafoid]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0401/1224293539945.html


The most pressing challenge facing the players' bodies at present, however, is not emigration but the related issue of employment.
The effectiveness of initiatives introduced by the GPA career service coach Mairéad Griffin has seen a drop in unemployment of GPA members from 15 to 12 per cent recently but Potts is aware this figure is liable to fluctuate and will certainly spike when graduates come out of third level education in the coming months. The figure is in line with the current national unemployment figure of 14.7 percent or 442,000.
"In a recent two-month period the work of Mairéad Griffin and others on the ground has seen 100 inter-county players moving off the live register and into gainful employment," Potts continued. "But we know it is an ongoing issue. There are roughly 250 players currently out of work."
Employment in sales is a viable alternative for inter-county players who have developed a profile through their sporting exploits only to be made redundant by the decrease in construction work around the country which also reduced the demand for tradesmen. "For those without skills it is about getting them back into education, so as to up-skill them for future opportunities."