It's time to get in a room and talk out integration, says camogie president

DEAL DONE: From left, President of the Camogie Association Hilda Breslin, Rowena McCappin, Head of External Relations and Engagement, Glen Dimplex and Ard Stiúrthóir of the Camogie Association Sinéad McNulty at Croke Park to confirm Glen Dimplex as the new sponsor of the Camogie championships and association.

Camogie president Hilda Breslin will invite the presidents of the GAA and LGFA to sit at the one table and formally begin integration talks, should the latest integration motion be successfully passed at this weekend’s Camogie Congress.

The motion put forward by the Camogie Association’s Ard Chomhairle not only calls for an integrated Gaelic games organisation, but gender equity and equitable access to full participation in Gaelic games across all units of the organisation.

The GAA and LGFA have in recent weeks passed motions committing to one single governing body and should Camogie follow suit this weekend, Breslin will then seek to get all three association presidents in the one room to formally begin the integration process.

“We are all going to Congresses and coming up with aspirations, and they are wonderful and it is brilliant that we are talking about this. But the next step must be concrete. To me, the next step is the three presidents sitting down together, and that is what I will be calling for, if we get our mandate, that we sit down and put in place a formal mechanism to start this process,” Breslin told the Irish Examiner.

“It doesn’t matter who puts the invitation out there, but if we get a mandate this weekend, we’ll be putting the invitation to the other two bodies.” 

Breslin said the road to integration has arrived at a point where “a timeframe, a format, and a structure around how we are going to do it” is now required.

“There are no guarantees this will work and there are also no guarantees the three associations will all decide this is what they want. But I think until we get the three associations into the room, we are all just talking at each other and not particularly with each other.

“So we have got to talk together, the three associations, and see if this is where we are going and put a timeframe and a structure around the talks.

“I have never known any integration or merger where everybody is sitting in separate rooms, and it works that way. Eventually, you have all got to get into the one room and talk it out.” 

Although not wishing to set any pre-conditions ahead of inviting the GAA and LGFA to the table, Breslin said it would make sense to have an independent chairperson overseeing integration talks.

“We need someone independent of the three associations. We all come with our own hats on and you have got to have somebody that is going to challenge all of us in our thinking and challenge us to say, why can’t you do that.

“It will be up to them, in some ways, to make sure we drive it on, put timescales around it, and are committed to it. And if we are not committed to it, then they should equally be the ones to call it out and say, well actually they are not committed to it and this isn’t going to work.” 

Breslin was adamant that she does not want this weekend’s Camogie Congress to be a rubber-stamping exercise and would much prefer if delegates air whatever concerns they might harbour with regard to joining forces with the GAA and LGFA.

“Obviously, we are looking for the motion to be endorsed, but we very often say why we should do this, nobody ever comes out and says why we shouldn’t do this, what are the concerns, what are the fears of people. We kinda leave all that hidden in the background.

“I’d like to hear that from the floor of Congress. I’d like people to be honest and say, what’s their concern or what do they fear for camogie. We’d like a robust debate; we don’t want a rubber-stamping exercise.

“To me, the debate is about the type of association we want to go into the future with and what will best suit the Gaelic games family into the future. From my perspective, that is about reflecting the society we have and the society we have is based on equality and equity.

“This is really what we are looking for: to get a mandate where there are no pre-conditions and we don’t go into talks saying, this is a red line for us, and this is a red line for someone else. Instead, we say, if we were to start today, what would we want and how do we get there.” 

Elsewhere, the Wexford senior camogie panel have written to the Camogie Association’s fixtures committee to outline their “shock and disappointment” at the clash of fixtures this Sunday which means dual players Sarah Harding-Kenny and Ailis Neville will have to choose between the camogie team’s Division 2 League semi-final against Waterford and the footballers’ Division 3 final against Roscommon.