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The Seventh Annual Roadstone/Cumann na mBunscol Awards took place in the Berkeley Court with Ms. Mary Hanafin, Minister for Education and Science as guest of honour and special guest Uachtarán CLG Seán O Ceallaigh. This was another successful event and a presentation night enjoyed by all guests fortunate to be there. Congratulations to all the award winners and nominees, to those first time entrants and especially to Cumann na mBunscol Londain .

The work of Marty Morrissey who has been involved since the inception of the awards has to be commended. He brings a professionalism to the night which makes it the social highlight of the Cumann na mBunscol year. I want to thank Marty Morrissey and his panel of assessors, Helen O’Rourke, Seosamh MacDonncha, Jarlath Burns, and Jim O’Sullivan for agreeing to judge the entries. I also want to thank Roadstone and their Managing Director Mr. Michael Grogan for their continued support of the awards. This year sees the retirement of Michael as managing director of Roadstone Provinces. May I wish him and his wife Nuala a long and happy retirement. I also want to thank Ronnie Delany and David Roche for all their help in making the Awards Banquet such a success. I must express our delight and gratitude that the sponsorship will continue for another year. As I have said on previous occasions some categories attract more entries than others but as we are about playing and promoting games I would plead with all units to enter one of the games categories this year. The school and publication categories are well supported. Thanks to those units who are regular entrants. To those who have not been successful don’t lose hope.

This year saw the launch of the Lift and Stike hurling promotion in association with Mc Donald’s. It had a similar structure to the Catch and Kick. Pat Daly Coaching and Games Manager in Croke Park is proposing to launch the Catch and Kick/ Lift and Strike programme in April/May. It is proposed to have First Touch (7/8year olds) exhibitions games in Hurling here during the summer – a school team (10) players where a concerted effort is made to promote Hurling will be selected at County level – to represent the County in Croke Park.

Schools will be provided with the GO Games equipment –sliotars and footballs- in September together with the Go Games DVD, Manual and copy of the U-Can Skill Awards.

The Club/School Coordinators will then take an active involvement in the roll out of these.

There was disappointment at the standard and quantity of the hurleys provided. The skill elements were found to be too difficult and there were fewer coaching sessions than were promised.

A meeting of the Provincial Officers took place with the Cóiste Náisiúnta in September and activities and events in each province were outlined. Exhibition games continue to be played in all provinces.

In Ulster indoor games are popular with increased participation and counties sending representatives to provincial blitzes. Seven out the nine Ulster counties participated in handball. The Ulster Council made a substantial increase to its grant to Cumann na mBunscol Uladh. Representative games were held in Clones, Ballybofey, Casement Park and the unique Ulster Final in Croke Park.

In Munster, there was a successful indoor hurling promotion in each county. There was a welcomed increase in handball with Cork and Kerry to the fore.

Finance was not an issue. There was a primary teachers’ course where 41 participants attended Mary Immaculate College in July 2004. The Calvita Primary game is a hugely successful promotional tool and attracts great spectator interest. Eight such games were played while boys played at the Munster football final and girls fielded for the Munster hurling final.

In Connacht, the Coaching Manager John Tobin had developed close links with Cumann na mBunscol and was very supportive. The Connacht Council besides their annual grant also gave an extra €5,000 towards the added administration costs, which all counties were incurring. This was greatly appreciated.

At the exhibition games, County Boards now provided the teams with full replica gear. John Tobin, the Connacht coaching manager, has been very supportive of Cumann na mBunscol. A teachers’ summer course was held in the Connacht Council’s offices in the last week in August 2004. Counties are striving to make every effort to provide coaching sessions in the schools with suitable personnel. An innovative primary schools coaching scheme is about to be launched in Sligo in association with the Sligo IT.

Coiste Laighin of Cumann na mBunscol were busy as usual promoting a varied game programme. Mini games were played in Parnell Park, Carlow, Croke Park (6) including a visit from Bishop Chandler School in Warwickshire. There was a handball day in Kilkenny while there was a very successful indoor blitz for hurling in Tallaght. Coiste Laighin have developed a partnership with St. Patrick’s College whose students help with refereeing and organising the mini games. Comhairle Laighin are to be commended on their twice-yearly newsletter, which is very informative.

Each County Board has a Coaching and Games Committee and in light of proposed changes in the role of G.P.Os, it is vital that Cumann na mBunscol has an active delegate attending the meetings. Schools and Clubs need to develop stronger links, which is mutually beneficial. The delegates need to ensure that money provided for coaching by the Irish Sports Council through Croke Park is used productively and efficiently. We need to insist that the 8-week Coaching Models as set out under the Under Age Strategic Plan take place. We must make our voices heard at County Board otherwise we are part of the problem. Ní neart go cur le chéile.

In meeting the Provincial units recently they strongly expressed the view that continued top class and regular coaching must be provided for all primary schools. As it is becoming increasing difficult to attract new blood to get involved on committees to continue the essential and vital work of Gaelic games promotion, it was suggested that consideration should be given to the appointment of a servicing officer to each county.

I am coming to the end of ten years on the national committee. I have thoroughly enjoyed my work and meeting with hard working officials around the country. Cumann na mBunscol is a great organisation and deserves every support from County Boards to Croke Park. I feel the progress has been immense from our partnership with Allianz to our relationship with Roadstone which provides a social outlet for all the hardworking officials around the country .We are continuing to renew our association with O Neills. Our profile has been to the fore both at Central Council and through excellent media exposure in the match programmes at Croke Park. We continue to be represented on the schools committee and coaching committee in Croke Park. We have voting rights on County Boards and I would urge all Coistí in the counties to ensure that a representative attends County Board meetings on a regular basis.

In conclusion I want to thank the counties for their help and courtesy during the year. Finally thanks to all my colleagues on the National Committee for their help and support and friendship down through the years.

On a personal note I wish to sympathise with Marty Morrissey on the sudden death of his father before Christmas. Ar dheis Dé go raibh sé. May I wish a speedy return to full health to Jerry Grogan and Ronnie Delany. We think especially of Pat Trainor and his family at this time. May we continue to have the enthusiasm and energy to promote our games.

	CUMANN NA MBUNSCOL NÁISIÚNTA
National A.G.M.2005 (Armagh)