The GAA brings its stakeholders and partners to Croke Park to establish the local CCC

Last September saw the establishment of the Dublin based Circular City Committee, as the Gaelic Athletics Association held the first meeting with its future members.

The GAA held their first Circular City Committee (CCC) meeting on 14 September 2023 at Croke Park stadium, gathering stakeholders from the Dublin City Council, the Regional Waste Management Office and Croke Park itself. The meeting aims were provide an overview of the ACCESS programme to all CCC members, identify membership or network gaps, and agree on the next steps in developing a CCC action plan.

Although this particular meeting did mark the official beginning of the local CCC’s journey within the ACCESS project’s framework, the contacts and partnerships established between those around the table are already long standing. Hugh Coughlan, the coordinator of the East Midland Waste Region and the vice president of the Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource management also a member of the GAA Green Club Steering group. Another participant at the meeting, Don Daly, the Project Manager with Dublin City Council, has already been working with Bohemians FC on the redevelopment of the Dalymount Park, a soccer stadium in the Croke Park area, and with the Aviva Stadium on the Euro 2028 bid. And finally, although absent for this meeting, Yvonne Cannon of the Dublin CARO – a coordinating body for local government efforts to deliver climate action, is also an official partner of the GAA Green Club Programme.

While the meeting allowed the GAA to share the findings from the previous phase of the ACCESS project and the conclusions and observations that were made during the audit phase, it proved fruitful also in terms of several follow-up actions that were discussed. Parallel consultation exercise are to be carried out with DCC – i.e., interviews/focus groups conducted to identify gaps and opportunities in interactions and shared interests and impacts between Croke Park and the city, with a focus on environmental sustainability and circularity. The Croke Park will also be further consulted and those outcomes of both Croke Park and DCC consultations would provide basis of second CCC meeting and inform discussions and decision on areas on which to focus.

And as if the newly established CCC wasn’t big and diverse enough, further outreach activities were considered, namely reaching out to Bohemians Football Club to discuss shared interests and challenges and to invite the Bohemians FC Climate Justice Officer to join the CCC, as well as a member of the Sustainability Team of Technical University Dublin and DCC Climate Action Officer.