Could GAA tourism become Tipperary’s next major draw? Call for action grows
At the February meeting of the Thurles Municipal District, following a presentation from Mairead Winters, the council’s tourism activator, independent councillor Jim Ryan said that the council was missing the opportunity to promote Thurles to a wider audience as the birthplace of the GAA.The GAA was officially formed at Hayes Hotel in Thurles in 1884.Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Ryan said that he had spoken to the heads of the GAA, who said they would be on board to develop more tourism around the sport in the north Tipperary town."I raised with the top notch in the GAA the lack of interest and the huge opportunity they’re missing out on in Thurles regarding where the GAA was founded,” Cllr Ryan said.“The hotel is still there, the room where the GAA was founded is still there, we have a museum in Thurles that nobody hardly ever visits and we have no signage up saying that the GAA was founded in Thurles, there’s no statues, we’ve no GAA trail and we have no visitor centre or heritage centre.“The GAA officials who attended a previous meeting fully backed me on it, and they said it’s something they would like to see happen, they’re disappointed that it hasn’t happened previously so there’s an opportunity for a partnership,” Cllr Ryan said.
The interest in the GAA across the world is huge, he said, adding that a focus on GAA tourism would attract people to Thurles.“There's massive interest in it, and to think where the GAA was founded, we don’t even have a sign up anywhere in the town of Thurles, I think it’s a sin, it’s a lost opportunity,” he said.In response, Ms Winters said that GAA tourism has been on the council’s radar, and that work will be done to make more of it."I have a contact in the GAA now that I will follow up with, that has been on our own books as an experience to move forward, and under Fáilte Ireland funding that they’ll be announcing this year, I’d like to see a feasibility study on the GAA in Thurles,” Ms Winters said."On a local level, we do touch base with the GAA and it’s something that they’re interested in developing, but a guided tour is something we could work on in the immediate future,” she added.Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
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