Gaelic games merger and curriculum
Senator Flaherty welcomed moves to merge camogie and ladies football and argued that Gaelic games should be more formally included in the primary curriculum.
The Camogie Association and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association are working towards merging into a single organisation by 2027, creating one association to ensure equal treatment for all players. The move is long overdue and will ensure equal access to funding facilities for all sports people, young and old, as many inequalities have evolved over the years. It also presents us with a chance to formally include Gaelic games, the actual games, and the unique history of the organisation as part of our primary schools curriculum. We already have an ad hoc arrangement in place whereby teachers, in many instances outside their regular hours, dedicate themselves to the promotion of the games and also Scór and the spirit of the GAA generally. In 2018, UNESCO inscribed hurling and camogie onto the representative list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity, recognising them as 2,000-year-old Irish traditions.
This status celebrates the games as vital cultural expressions rather than just sports.
Our spoken word and music are already safeguarded within the primary curriculum, and we should show the same regard for our games. The GAA was long linked with the pursuit of Ireland's self-determination. While the modern association is one of inclusion and celebrates all cultures, it is vital that our youngest know the origins of the games that set us, as a nation, apart on the world stage. Not every child will go on to play in an all-Ireland final, but it is incumbent on us to ensure, at the very least, that children leave school with an understanding of the Gaelic games association, its history, culture and values, while also having had an opportunity to play hurling, play or Gaelic football, try their hand at rounders or handball and participate in Scór. We have travelled a significant journey in the delivery of physical education in our primary schools. With our leading sports body on the cusp of a seismic integration, we owe it to past generations and also our future children to ensure the games, culture and values of our forefathers are safeguarded.