GAA Strategy Manager Dr. Peter Horgan delivered the findings before Offaly County Council.
Not all midlands GAA clubs will survive the next decade.
That's according to a new report from the GAA, titled 'No one shouted stop.'
It's delivering a stark warning: that rural depopulation is no longer just a sporting issue, but a national crisis threatening community life.
Speaking before Offaly County Council, GAA Strategy Manager Dr. Peter Horgan said the driving force behind this decline is a combination of mass migration toward urban centres and a plummeting birth rate-which fell from 100,000 in 2010 to just 73,000 in 2024.
Dr. Horgan urges local government and the state to urgently prioritize rural housing support to reverse the trend.
Fine Gael Councillor Noel Cribbin says strategic planning can turn the tide. He highlighted the success of Ballyfore GAA club where a local 20-house development provided the community growth needed to secure sports funding for a new pitch
To progress the matter, Cathaoirleach John Leahy has called for a targeted study to create a "heat map" of the county, which would identify the most sustainable locations for rural housing, with a push to integrate these findings directly into the next County Development Plan to ensure the long-term survival of our local clubs.
Currently there are 41 GAA clubs in Offaly, 48 in Laois and Westmeath has 47.
Dr. Horgan says these figures could halve in 10 years if the decline in birth rate continues:
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