Representatives from over 300 clubs will gather at Croke Park next month for the Club Forum as part of a GAA initiative to ensure those at grassroots have a greater voice and say within the overall National Strategic Plan.
The Club Forum will take place in the run up to the launch of the National Strategic Plan to be announced by incoming Director General Paraic Duffy later this year.
"It is intended that the Plan will identify priority areas for the Association in the short to medium term, outline our goals in these areas and most importantly, how we intend to achieve them," said Duffy.
"The Club Forum will be the first step in identifying what club members see as the main areas of immediate concern for the Association."
As part of an overall consultation process the GAA intend to "canvass a broad range of views from across a wide spectrum of Irish society and from within the Association itself".
Ideally Duffy would have liked the forum to have "featured representation from every single club in the country" but due to numbers that wouldn't be manageable. Instead each county committee will nominate 10 club representatives to attend the first forum at Croke Park on Saturday, February 9th.
"For the Forum to best achieve its goals effectively, it was necessary to limit the numbers involved," added Duffy.
A series of workshops and discussions will address GAA policy and attempt to provide feedback on the direction and emphasis that club members feel the GAA should be taking over the next five years.
"The forum is a great opportunity for club members from around the country to put their points across in relation to matters of importance to them and to their clubs generally," said GAA President Nickey Brennan.
Meanwhile the GAA have planned a range of activities to celebrate the Association's 125th anniversary next year. Former Armagh footballer Jarleth Burns will chair the committee responsible for overseeing the events.