GAA's delayed integration with ladies associations 'not a gender issue', says Jarlath Burns
Jarlath Burns: 'Let's be cool and calm about what has happened. We have missed one deadline. We haven't abandoned integration — we have missed one deadline.' Photo: Brian Lawless/PA
The GAA president has rejected the idea that integration with ladies associations is being stalled by "a gender issue".
The association appeared before the Oireachtas Sports Committee to discuss integration after Mary McAleese last month stepped down as chairperson of the steering committee.
The former President of Ireland had been tasked by ex-GAA president Larry McCarthy in September 2022 with leading the group to oversee the amalgamation of the GAA, Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) and The Camogie Association (CA).
Ms McAleese said on her departure that there were some in the GAA "who are not entirely happy about the idea of including women in decision-making at the top level of Gaelic sports", a charge that Jarlath Burns rejected on Wednesday.
He said that while the issue of integration is a "gender issue" on the field, off it he is confident women will have decision-making standing in the integrated organisation.
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“I think that was the thing that we found most regrettable, because this is not a gender issue,” said Burns. “It might be at the level of playing, but at the level of administration, it is anything but.
“Some of the best females are working in the GAA, and in the other organisations. And one of the biggest fears that we would have had was that all of the wonderful people working currently in the GAA might leave this new organisation and feel that there wasn’t a role for them.”
Mr Burns said he believes Ms McAleese stepped down because the 2027 deadline for integration was going to be missed.
“I think she resigned because she was very adamant that we were going to reach every deadline that we had,” Mr Burns said.
“And that, once she realised that we were going to miss the first deadline, I think she decided then that she wanted to walk away from the process, which was very disappointing for us, and we regret that deeply. But we are still very much committed to integration.
“And it is up to us to make it happen, but we will make it happen in a way that our members are comfortable with and we’re going for it.”
Cian Ó Lionáin from the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport said the two ministers in his department — senior minister Patrick O'Donovan and junior sports minister Charlie McConalogue — are satisfied women would have decision-making powers in the integration process and after.
He said that question had been "interrogated" by the department.
Mr Burns said the GAA membership was not angered by missing the 2027 deadline but was keen to get the process right.
"Let's be cool and calm about what has happened. We have missed one deadline. We haven't abandoned integration — we have missed one deadline."
Camogie Association president Brian Molloy said "we can get to a point where we have a single national governing body reasonably quickly", but that it may not be 2028.
However, Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan said he was "leaving this room confused and a little bit frustrated in relation to timeline".
- Paul Hosford, deputy political editor
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