Get all the very latest news in Ireland straight to your email every single day Sign up! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The Queen of England is helping Irish sport thrive by supplying the wood used to make hurleys, it has been claimed.

Ash from Queen Elizabeth's Sandringham forest is being used to help producers make the 350,000 hurls needed every year.

A source told the Irish Sun: "An independent contractor takes down the ash trees from the estate, and one beneficiary is makers of hurleys in Ireland.

"The Royal family are happy the GAA is a beneficiary of the wood.

Hurley manufacturer Michael Flannery revealed Irish producers are travelling to the UK to source materials used for the sticks.

He said: "The Queen owns a lot of forestry and it's being imported in here but also people are going over there to cut down the wood."

It's estimated that around 70% of wood used to make the hurleys is imported from abroad.