GAA chairpersons to meet about integration concerns

Several GAA county chairpersons are set to meet later this month amid growing unease over the lack of clarity surrounding integration plans for the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association ahead of the 2027 deadline.

Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese is the chairperson of the steering committee on integration. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

A group of GAA county chairpersons have independently arranged a meeting later this month to discuss concerns around integration.

The gathering has been called to talk about common interests including the financial, logistical and structural challenges of the amalgamation of the GAA, Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) and Camogie Association (CA) and the deadline set for 2027.

County leaders have been alarmed by the lack of information forthcoming about the merger from the steering committee on integration. With that date looming, there is disquiet among officials about what exactly integration will entail.

Last month, the steering body, which is headed by former President of Ireland Mary McAleese and includes the three organisations’s presidents and chief executives one of whom has left their post and the other will depart in December, provided their latest update with a list of core principles that had been agreed. The number of officer roles on a club, county or provincial executive will be increased to ensure all three codes are equally represented.

However, boards have yet to be informed on matters such as gender balance on combined county board executives and delegation sizes in a Congress that will combine the three associations into one.

The costs associated with guaranteeing equity and equal access for female codes continue to exercise several GAA county board officials. The price of updating dressing rooms alone is estimated to run into the millions.

Chairpersons are also expected to use the opportunity as an information-sharing forum on other topics. At Saturday’s Special Congress, GAA president Jarlath Burns revealed Croke Park plans to speak to chairpersons about commercial arrangements in some counties that are in direct conflict with similar ones done at national level.

The news about the chairpersons’s meeting comes as it has emerged this year’s camogie and ladies football All Stars events will clash on Saturday, November 15. Both events will take place in Dublin, the LGFA awards in the Bonnington Hotel in Drumcondra a mile away from the camogie gala in Croke Park.

After fixture clashes between the two female codes, it is another example of the associations unable to come to an arrangement that mutually benefits both of them. The men’s awards occur on Friday, November 7.

In former GAA president Larry McCarthy’s term, there was an attempt to organise the hurling and camogie All Stars in one event and the ladies and men’s football awards in another. However, consensus could not be reached.

Last month, Helen O’Rourke and Sinead McNulty announced they were stepping down as LGFA and CA chief executives within six days of each other. McNulty has left her role, while O’Rourke will depart her position in December after 28 years.

Meanwhile, Armagh’s 2024 All-Ireland winner Stefan Campbell has retired from inter-county football.

Campbell had been part of the panel going back to 2011. He departs along with a number of players including Ciaron O'Hanlon and Ciaran Higgins.