A sum of £3 million pounds has been set aside by the GAA to deal with any insurance claims which may arise in the near future. The announcement was made yesterday in tandem with a new voluntary scheme which will be open to all registered members from February next and is guaranteed by the Coyle Hamilton firm and underwritten by Royal Sun Alliance. Details of the new voluntary scheme were announced in Croke Park yesterday when it was pointed out that some 5,000 insurance claims last year from players under the present official scheme were met out of a £1.7 million fund entirely backed by the GAA.

The new scheme will be open to players on any scheme already registered with the existing GAA injury scheme, as well as match officials. The scheme also includes cover for injury suffered in supervised training sessions. The games of football, hurling and players and rounders are included. The new voluntary scheme will be in addition to the existing GAA scheme and will cost each senior player £20 per annum and each youth player £10 per annum. At the launch of the new scheme yesterday it was stated by the GAA's national financial controller, Ciaran O'Neill that, at the moment, the GAA's official insurance scheme covered some 20,000 team panels which meant that some 500,000 members were covered. The new arrangement was put together by the GAA's National Insurance Work Group under the chairmanship of Paddy Muldoon, a former chairman of the Mayo county board.

The president of the GAA, Joe McDonagh, pointed out that there would be no distinction between players in any code covered by either scheme. He rejected any suggestion that yesterday's announcement was in any way connected with recent efforts to set up a players' association which had insurance issues as part of its agenda.