GAA and Church move in on scrap metal business
Knocknagree GAA chairman Brendan Hickey pictured with a former mini bus donated to raise club funds. Credit: Picture John Tarrant
GAA clubs and community groups are hoping to tap into a lucrative new fundraising market – while cleaning the local environment in the process.
A number of fundraisers have sprung up across the county asking members of the public to donate their scrap metal that is lying idle in yards, garages and fields across Cork communities. The fundraisers are then selling the metal to scrap yards for profit. The novel money-generating idea has been described as a sign of the times, with the cashstrapped public asked to donate its unwanted machinery instead of funds at a time when money is tight.
One Cork based metal company told The Corkman that fundraisers can expect to receive somewhere between €150 and €170 per tonne sold, depending on the type of metal received.
One such fundraiser by Knocknagree GAA has raised over 40 tonnes of metal to date, with the club's "Scrap Saturday' bringing in discarded household and farmyard machinery from homes throughout the locality. Organisers say the innovative fundraiser has been widely greeted by the public who welcome the opportunity to clear out their garages of unwanted machinery.
Banteer GAA is another North Cork club hoping to cash in on the recent phenomenon, while last weekend Glanworth village benefited from a collection of scrap metal, the proceeds of which will go towards loan repayments on the recent work on the parish church.
The eco-friendly initiatives are also acting as a deterrent to thieves. Garda Chief Superintendent Kieran McGann recently told a meeting of the Joint Policing Committee that the number of thefts of scrap metal in the area is on the rise.
- JOE LEOGUE
