Integration in jeopardy following McAleese resignation

Update On The Integration Process Involving The Camogie Association, The GAA and the LGFA, Croke Park, Dublin 20/2/2024 GAA President, Larry McCarthy, Camogie Association President, Hilda Breslin, Chairperson of the Steering Group on Integration, Mary McAleese and Mícheál Naughton, LGFA President ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Plans for the integration of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association have suffered a huge setback after Mary McAleese stepped down as chairperson of the steering committee.

In a fiery resignation, the former President of Ireland accused the GAA of 'lacking in vision' after being informed that it could not commit to a definitive timeline for integration. The three Gaelic games bodies had committed to achieving integration by 2027, but the GAA wrote to the steering group in recent days requesting that the process be paused and that the target date be pushed out by up to five years.

McAleese, who was appointed by the GAA in September 2022 to serve as the independent chairperson of the integration process, said in a 20-minute interview with RTÉ Radio: “I’m absolutely devastated. I’ve given four years of my time to this and four years is a lot.

“I did meet the management committee, and a body, quite frankly, that was less than impressive and very disappointing to me as a long-term GAA supporter to meet a body so lacking in vision for the future of the GAA.

“But it boils down to, in their view, finances, which incidentally we had taken great trouble to meet their concerns [about] and to have answers for their concerns that were more than credible and more than workable.

“But I also suspect, and I hate to say this, but I suspect that there are people who are not entirely happy about the idea of including women in decision making at the top level of Gaelic sports.”

She continued: “They’ve blocked our progress, they’ve blocked our plan and they have no other plan currently.

“I was shocked to hear the current president of the GAA [Jarlath Burns] say [in correspondence] that, in fact, he didn’t really support the idea, having supported it up to now at all our meetings, but that he was in favour of federation.

“Honestly, somewhere in recent months, the leadership is not evident and the commitment to integration has evaporated, in my view.”