When participants in Camogie, Ladies Gaelic Football, Men’s Gaelic Football or Hurling (our games), including the parents or guardians of young players, have concerns or complaints, we want to make it easy to contact the right person.
It is important to us that all complaints are taken seriously and dealt with positively, and that people with concerns are encouraged to raise them in an appropriate manner without fear of reprisals. We and our members see every complaint raised as an opportunity to improve the way our games are ran.
Our commitment
- We are committed to improving the experience of everyone involved in our games. This includes dealing with any complaint you may have.
- We will deal with your complaint quickly and fairly.
- We will tell you what is happening with your complaint.
- We will treat the information you give us in confidence, except where legally required to pass information onto appropriate agencies.
- We will explain our decision.
- We will use complaints to review and improve the way we run our games.
- If you make a complaint, it will not affect your rights to participate in our games.
Who to make a complaint to
This will depend on the type of complaint, and on whether it involves someone under the age of 18 or a vulnerable adult. If you need help working out how to make your complaint, contact the chairperson of the Gaelic Games Council of Britain.
Most complaints will fall into one of the following 4 categories:
1. Concerns relating to young people or vulnerable adults:
If you wish to raise a concern or make a complaint that relates to child protection or any incident involving someone under the age of 18 or a vulnerable adult, you should contact the Designated Officer as detailed below:
- Camogie – Contact
- Ladies Football – Contact
- Men’s Football, Hurling & Non Olympic Handball – Contact
Issues involving young people or vulnerable adults are handled in accordance with our Child Protection Policy and our Safeguarding section of the web site will provide you with any information you need to know.
2. County, club or league issues:
Complaints arising from games will be handled by the relevant Competitions Committee depending on the level the competition in question. You should contact the County Secretary who will point you in the right direction, if you do not know who the County Secretary is please contact the Secretary of the Council or Board shown below:
3. Complaints about administration:
If you are unhappy with the service you have received from, or the way you have been treated by any of the committees responsible for our games you should raise your complaint with the secretary of the County Board in which the committee operates or if the complaint is about the County Board, with the secretary of the Council or Board under whose jurisdiction the County Board operates. If your complaint is about the Council or Board then you should raise your complaint with the Contact of the Gaelic Games Council of Britain.
4. Complaints about CDAs:
Complaints about our CDAs should be reported to the Chairperson of the Gaelic Games Council of Britain.
Complaints Process
The following general complaints process will be followed:
Informal complaint – Step 1
We will try to deal with your complaint informally. This means that you should take your complaint to the member or officer you were dealing with. Our members and officers will do their best to settle your complaint without you needing to do anything else.
Formal complaint – Step 2
If you have spoken to the relevant person about your complaint but they have not been able to put things right, or you are not happy with the result, the next step is for you to make a formal complaint.
Please put your complaint in writing and send it to the relevant person detailed in the 4 categories above.
You can contact us by email. Please detail:
- Who or what the complaint is about
- The behaviour or circumstances that led to the complaint
- The date, time, location and event it occurred at
- Whether there were any other witnesses to the behaviour/circumstances
- Any action you took at the time, such as whether you spoke with the individual in question about the issue, whether you reported it to anyone else, etc
Please note if the complaint is regarding Safeguarding then please complete the Incident Reporting Form. Reporting an incident
We will write to you within ten working days to let you know we have received your complaint and the name of the investigating officer dealing with your complaint. This information will make it easier for you to contact the person dealing with your complaint if you need to.
The investigating officer will:
- Investigate your complaint
- Take any necessary action
- Write to you within one month to explain their decision and to tell you the outcome of your complaint
If your complaint will take longer to investigate and we will not be able to send you a reply within one month, the investigating officer will write to you and let you know when you will receive a written reply.
Complaint Review – Step 3
If you have been through the formal complaint process at Step 2 of the Complaints Procedure and you are still not happy with the outcome, you can ask for the matter to be referred to the secretary of the committee overseeing the committee which dealt with your complaint.
- Club up to County
- County up to the Provincial Council of Britain
- Provincial Council of Britain to the Gaelic Games Council of Britain
The relevant committee will write to you within ten working days to let you know:
- That your complaint is being reviewed
- Approximately how long it will take to carry out the review
- When it will send out a written reply
Complaints we will not investigate
We will not investigate certain complaints, for example those:
- Relating to contractual dispute
- That are being, or have been, considered by a court or similar body
- Relating to incidents or decisions that are more than three months old
- Considered to be vexatious or malicious
If we decline to investigate a complaint, we will explain why.
Comments and suggestions
As well as learning from complaints, we want to know any comments or suggestions you may have to help us improve our sports. You can do this by telling a member of staff or an officer about your comment or suggestion or by putting your comment or suggestion in writing.
Whistle blowing
If you have concerns which are not complaints we ask that you consider our whistle blowing policy.
