'We will achieve it': Gaelic games bodies insist integration will happen

In a statement to the Joint-Oireachtas committee on arts, media, communications, culture and sport delivered by GAA president Jarlath Burns, it was said Mary McAleese's work as chairperson of the steering group 'has not been lost'

GAA president Jarlath Burns, Camogie Association president Brian Molloy and LGFA President Trina Murray. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Mary McAleese’s resignation as chairperson of the steering committee on integration is not “the end of integration”, the three Gaelic sports bodies have insisted.

In their opening statement to the Joint-Oireachtas committee on arts, media, communications, culture and sport on Wednesday afternoon, the leadership of the GAA, Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) and The Camogie Association insisted they remain fully behind the amalgamation of the groups.

The organisations took issue with the suggestion that McAleese’s departure from her role last month had been a fatal blow to the process.

After thanking McAleese for her efforts, a statement, delivered by GAA president Jarlath Burns, read: “Let us be clear, Dr McAleese’s work over the past four years in advancing integration and the achievement in aligning our Associations remains in place and this work has not been lost.

“I say that Cathaoirleach because listening to a lot of the public and political debate over the past month there have been some who have equated Dr McAleese’s departure to the end of integration.

“Dr McAleese’s work as Chair of the Steering Group on Integration has brought us a huge way down the road and we are closer to that goal because of her work – not further away.

“There have also been some who questioned the commitment of our three organisations – and let’s call a spade a spade specifically the GAA – towards integration.

“Well, let me be equally straight here with you – the three presidents and three Ard Stiúrthóirí sitting before you this afternoon are here to say that we are committed to achieving integration of our organisations and we will achieve it.

“We will do so because our organisations will be stronger together and all our members will benefit from us operating under one body and making sure everyone enjoys the benefits of that one new organisation. That is our guiding star and has always been.

“To every young woman, young girl and also to the men and boys who operate under the umbrella of the Gaelic games family – we say to you that our games are for everyone and our commitment to making this happen is as firm as ever and we say that with one voice.

“As the GAA Ard Stiúrthóir, Tom Ryan, stated on RTÉ, ‘We do not see a future for us in the GAA as a standalone organisation promoting and offering male sports only.’ We cannot put it any clearer than that.”

The steering group committee highlighted the combined 931,000 membership of the three bodies. “That means that one in seven persons living on this island is a card-carrying member of the Gaelic games family. We put those figures on the record of the Committee not to boast but to illustrate and respectfully remind Committee members of the challenge at hand.

“The first group of people we have to inform are our own members. And there are literally hundreds of thousands of them. If we do not have the support of our own members – in all three associations – then we won’t have integration.

“They want this, we want this, but our members equally want to know how this is going to work. And in that regard, we collectively were not ready to bring forward the structural aspect of this plan to Special Congresses this autumn that would have allowed us to progress on the timescales previously advised to this committee.

“We missed the deadline we set ourselves and the deadline that we informed our members of, and also informed this committee of. But there is no point in moving to a vote that will not be successful and having listened to our own members and the feedback we received throughout the country from our various roadshows, there was an expressed view from those engagements that proposals needed to be refined.” 

In a statement to the committee, Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan reiterated his direction to Sport Ireland last month to make themselves available to assist in the integration process.

O’Donovan highlighted the difficulty of the merger. “We fully recognise that, as independent, autonomous organisations responsible for their own governance, the GAA, the LGFA and the Camogie Association are responsible for the integration project.

“However, we also recognise the absolute importance of achieving the shared integration goal which, when delivered, will be the single-biggest sports merger project in Ireland, and possibly anywhere.

“We consider that the work done under Dr. McAleese’s stewardship, as independent chair of the Strategic Group on Integration, provides a strong platform for the delivery of Integration.” Sport Ireland said they were disappointed that “the original timelines proposed and agreed by all organisations might no longer be attainable”.

They continued: “We were concerned to hear about the difficulties in the integration process highlighted by Dr McAleese and regret that circumstances reached the point where she felt it necessary to step down as Chair.

“We note the three organisations’ responses and urge the organisations to reflect on the challenges they’ve encountered to date and take any learnings to shape ongoing progress around integration.”