Thomas Davis GAA €2m vision plan

THOMAS Davis GAA club are looking to invest nearly €2 million over the next five years as part of their 2030 vision plan which was recently announced.

The five-year plan will first see the construction of a new astro al-weather pitch with an expected cost for the project estimated at around €625,000.

In contributing towards this pitch the club has received over €300,000 in grants and is hoping to finance the remainder through a fundraising drive which will look to raise the last half.

The project is hoped to be finished by autumn of this year.

The redevelopment will include state of the art 3G carpet, a new shock pad, new LED floodlights, improved toilets and a new covered terrace.

The plan also sees Davis look to develop their coaching practices and overall size of the club.

The club has 250 academy members and 600 children across all codes involved but is hoping to increase these numbers by expanding their presence in local schools.

In order to support that growth the club plans to increase its games promotion and will take on more volunteers to account for the increase in players.

Coach education is another aspect that is going to be looked at with the view that better coaching will lead to better performance.

The sustainability program sees solar panels being installed across the clubhouse reducing costs by up to 80% as well as installing LED bulbs in the all weather floodlights.

They are also planning to introduce a bottle return scheme as well as electric vehicle charging facilities.

The club is planning to properly integrate two wells that exist on the grounds already. One will help with the irrigation of the pitches and the other will supply 70% of the clubhouse’s water.

The first goal of the program will be to recycle the old carpet from the all weather pitch rather than sending it to landfill.

In terms of financing the overall project for the next five years the club is aiming to achieve circa €950,000 due to grants from Sports Capital funding as well as funding from local authorities.

The sustainability projects are envisioned to be self financing thanks to a combination of savings from the projects themselves and climate related grants that the club is in the process of securing. This will come out to a total of €300,000.

The club is also looking for members to donate to the fund with a target total of €650,000 across the five years to bring the total money needed at €1.9 million.

For 2026 the club is hoping to achieve €125,000 from individual donations, another €120,000 from business adverts and then a further €55,000 from fundraising events.