New GAA president Jarlath Burns says the amount of money counties are spending on preparing their teams is ‘unsustainable’.

Inter-county spending was €40 million in 2023 – twice as much as 10 years ago – and this is something Burns is determined to curb during his presidency.

“The amateur status is one of our values and what we are spending on preparing our teams is unsustainable,” he said in an interview with gaa.ie

“Particularly as we prepare for integration when we'll have other teams to take care of. That has to change and the culture around the preparation of inter-county teams has to change from a number of perspectives.

“From a financial perspective, from an amateur status perspective, from the cardiovascular load we are putting on players perspective, and from a sustainability perspective as well. Because the amount of miles that are being done, the carbon footprint must be absolutely huge.”

He added: “I'm not blaming anybody. It's a culture of high-performance that is brilliant and makes us very professional in the sense of wanting to be the best we can be and it fills our stadiums. But even the Premier League with all of its millions and billions has a financial ceiling. And the GAA and its amateur games does not. That's something I want to change.”

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