Jarlath Burns: Fully integrated GAA 'will be unstoppable in terms of commercial capability'

Mary McAleese warned of a "public fallout" should integration be rejected

MONEY TO BURNS: Jarlath Burns believes the integration of the GAA with the Camogie Association and Ladies Gaelic Football Association will be of major commercial benefit. Pic: Chani Anderson.

Jarlath Burns believes the integration of the GAA with the Camogie Association and Ladies Gaelic Football Association will be of major commercial benefit.

April 2027 is the date set for one membership structure of the GAA to begin. What has been termed the 'glide path' to full integration will then get underway.

"We feel that's going to be one of the biggest dividends for us that as a fully integrated organisation, we will be unstoppable in terms of commercial capability," the GAA president told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture, and Sport.

The Steering Group on Integration - chaired by former President of Ireland Mary McAleese - will present its final report on integration to the management committees of the three associations within the next fortnight. Special Congresses of the three associations will then vote on integration in October.

McAleese said she didn't want to contemplate a scenario where one or more of the Congresses would not vote through integration. 

"I have faith that it will be overwhelmingly endorsed," she said.

"We believe very passionately that it is the best way forward. If any of those Congresses were to renege, good luck to them in dealing with the public fallout from that, is what I would say, frankly.

"The new GAA representing all Gaelic games is now less than a year away - it's ten months away. It will represent a beginning, not an end. 

"We will have a new president of the GAA, Derek Kent, in February. He'll take over. I've talked at length to Derek about this. He is 100% behind the timeline, the new membership structure, and the new organisation."

Burns said previously that integration could cost around €500m. That is a figure he stood behind on Wednesday. 

"We could do it for nothing but we're not going to do it right if we do it for nothing," said Burns.

"I think we have to be considering that sort of money because the cost of construction, particularly for the type of infrastructure that we are talking about here - toilets, showering facilities, plumbing all of that - are very very high at the moment."

Burns added: "We give out our infrastructure grants. Most of the criteria for clubs now is 'are you using this money to prepare for integration?' That's us in our own way of saying that if you want to get money from us it's going to have to be towards that."

GAA director general Tom Ryan said an approximate number has been reached regarding what it will cost to support female and male inter-county players.

"We've done a serious amount of work on that," said Ryan, "and we have actually arrived at what we think is a reasonable common base level of support that should be available to all players. We have arrived at what we think is the approximate cost of that.

"I suppose the next challenge for us then thereafter will be arriving at how we meet that. We've talked an awful lot today about the cost of facilities and things. There's a cost to the ongoing operations of the new organisation, that would be one of them and you'll be hearing a lot about that in the near future."