A prominent Clare hurler is calling for reforms to be made to the structures surrounding insurance cover for players who suffer injuries in Gaelic Games.
Eire Óg’s Shane O’Donnell has submitted a motion to the AGM of the Gaelic Players Association asking for “improved injury coverage, addressing the inadequacy of the current insurance in safeguarding inter-county players from financial loss.”
The 2022 All Star revealed that he was left over €5,000 out of pocket while recovering from a concussion injury which occurred in June 2021.
O’Donnell says the GAA has to do more to ensure players get the adequate supports when needed.
Meanwhile a statement from the GAA has outlined that a review over the current loss of wages limits is currently ongoing with further recommendations expected to be made in 2024.
The statement in full is below
The GAA’s Player Injury Reserve Fund was €8.3m as at 30 Sept 2022 and delivered a fund surplus of €2m for 2022. The GAA player Injury fund paid out over €8m in claims last year and administered over 6,600 injury and loss of wages claims through the fund. The 2022 surplus has primarily arisen from a write back of a batch of older claims (pre 2020 claims) that did not reach their provisioned claim values.
The GAA Player Injury fund has strict fund rules that govern how “all” claims are managed and assessed for each registered player.
All registered GAA playing member claims are treated equally under the fund rules. Inter-county Players do avail of a slightly enhanced level of cover as agreed previously with the GPA. This increased cover was administered in 2022 by an independent insurance firm and not the GAA.
The GAA Player Injury Fund’s reserve is prudently managed and is 100% and solely used to manage GAA player injury claims and nothing else. The fund has been in deficit previously hence the GAA’s requirement to contribute €2m approx. pa from championship gate receipts to maintain the Injury fund reserves in a positive and healthy position to allow it deal with current and future challenges.
There were over 6,600 claims processed through the fund in 2022.
The Injury Fund is kept under ongoing review and earlier this year the injury expense claim limit was increased from €4,500 to €5,200 per claim. This was approved by Coiste Bainistíochta in a measure to manage and utilise some of the fund’s current surplus and this measure is expected to cost the fund €2m over the next 4 years.
A review over the current loss of wages limits is currently ongoing with further recommendations are expected to be made to Coiste Bainistíochta in the new year.
