Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are giving €150,000 to three Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in County Waterford, Ireland. The clubs are the three located closest to Strancally Castle, which the couple bought in August, and each will receive €50,000 paid over two years.
The recipients are Shamrocks GAA, Tallow GAA and Lismore GAA. The gift is the couple’s first philanthropic donation in Ireland since they acquired the property. A spokesman for Zuckerberg said the couple were aware of the significant role the GAA plays in Irish communities and, as new members of the local community, wanted to support the clubs. Club officials told BBC News NI that the donation had been warmly welcomed in their areas.
Tallow GAA, the oldest of the three, was founded in 1887. Its treasurer, Kieran Geary, said that after the castle sale he emailed everyone he could reach about possible sponsorship. A couple of weeks later the club secretary, Lyndsey Murphy, received a call from Zuckerberg’s team, and a video call followed to discuss how the couple might help. Geary said the money would go first to the club’s underage teams, then to its adult teams and coaching, and later to a community walkway to improve accessibility.
Shamrocks GAA, which has operated since 1953 and draws on the parishes of Knockanore, Glendine and Kilwatermoy, has just over 200 members. Secretary Tim Lenehan said that at first he thought it was “someone pulling my leg”, but the club carried out its own checks and found the offer to be genuine. The club plans to upgrade facilities such as its changing rooms and develop its underage section, and Lenehan said the money was especially welcome for a small club that usually has to ask the same people for funds.
Lismore GAA, established in 1897, plans to put the money towards proposed floodlighting, new pitch-side fencing and a community walkway. Club secretary Emer Barry said she had known about the donation for about six weeks and was still taking it in. She said she did not know whether the couple would become regular visitors, but joked that the club was always open to new players because “there is no parish rule in Waterford”.
