'So lacking in vision for the future': Mary McAleese blasts GAA management as she resigns from integration committee

by · The42

LAST UPDATE | 12 mins ago

Updated at 21.12

MARY McALEESE HAS delivered a stunning critique of GAA management as she accused senior figures of not wanting women making decisions at the top level of Gaelic games.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Inside Sport, the former President of Ireland said “the commitment to integration has evaporated” as she explained the reasons for resigning her position as chairperson of the Integration Committee overseeing the amalgamation of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association.

Dr McAleese didn’t hold back in her withering assessment of the management committee, declaring they had blocked any chance of progress and had no vision for the future of Gaelic games.

Dr McAleese also said she was shocked by GAA president Jarlath Burns’ lack of support and that there was an absence of leadership from her experience of dealing with the committee.

“I’m absolutely devastated” Dr McAleese said. “The GAA management committee was quite frankly less than impressive, and very disappointing to me as a long term GAA supporter to meet a body that was so lacking in vision for the future of the GAA.

“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. The document they (the GAA) produced yesterday wittered on about how they continued to support integration and they were going to do all sorts of things to support integration except they weren’t actually going to do anything because they blocked our progress, they blocked our plan and they have no other plan currently.”

Dr McAleese’s decision comes after the GAA told the steering committee that it could not commit to the 2027 timeline. The GAA reportedly wrote to the group on Monday, proposing to extend the process by up to five years and that they remain fully committed to integration.

“Yesterday I was shocked to hear the current president of the GAA say that in fact he didn’t really support the idea, having supported it up to now,” Dr McAleese said.

“I didn’t see leadership at the GAA management committee… I had to remind them that integration was passed by Congress of the GAA and that they came to me to be the independent chair of their idea.

“The leadership is not evident and the commitment to integration has evaporated.”

Asked if Burns and GAA director general Tom Ryan were supportive, Dr McAleese said: “I think you’d have to ask them and I’ll leave it at that.

“I’m broken-hearted for the parents of young girls.”

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Fine Gael senator Evanne Ní Chuilinn has also strongly criticised the GAA following Dr McAleese’s decision to step down.

“If any other organisation decided to behave like this way in relation to women, they would not get away with it,” Ní Chuilinn told The 42.

RTÉ first reported that McAleese has stepped down as independent chairperson of the committee overseeing integration between the GAA, Camogie Association and Ladies Gaelic Football Association [LGFA].

In a statement issued to RTÉ, McAleese said the change “creates significant uncertainty around the previously agreed and publicly announced roadmap”.

Ní Chuilinn, who sits on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, said: “The first person I rang was the GPA to find out if they had any warning about this, and they didn’t.

“I spoke to a senior official in the minister’s department who didn’t have any knowledge of this happening either.

“Sport Ireland were not aware.

“The Department of Sport was not aware.

“The Minister was not aware before it all was in the news.

“That’s not how you do business. It’s very confusing. I don’t think we really fully understand what is actually happening and why they need five more years. If any other organisation decided to behave like this way in relation to women, they would not get away with it.

“A decision was made. This conversation started in 2022, and from what I’m reading in the media, it sounds like the GAA don’t want anything to happen until 2032, so another lost decade. What are they going to say to the young girls and their parents tonight?

“They’re just telling them they’re just not worth it right now, maybe they’ll be worth the conversation in five years’ time, because that’s the message that’s coming out, and that goes against the grain of where we are in this country about women’s sport at the moment.

“The irony of Croke Park hosting 82,000 people to see one female athlete last weekend, and then to come out with this news today. It’s upsetting. And what’s most upsetting about it is that you know deep down I was afraid this would happen. It’s disappointingly predictable.”

It’s understood that Minister for Sport Patrick O’Donoghue is particularly frustrated by the GAA’s suggested new five-year timeline for integration, which he feels goes against the democratic process.

He had been due to meet with GAA officials tomorrow regarding budget requests for hurling academies, but has now requested the attendance of the Association’s senior leadership to escalate talks on integration.

A GAA spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by The 42. The Camogie Association and LGFA have also been contacted for comment. 

“That’s not acceptable that there’s no comments,” added Ní Chuilinn. “That’s absolutely not acceptable.

“The government are not the ones that need to be commenting tonight. Politicians are not the ones that need to be commenting tonight, and the media are not the ones that should be speculating. The GAA should be out explaining what is going on. It’s not acceptable that there will be no comment tonight. It’s wild.”

McAleese was appointed as independent integration chairperson in September 2023. The 75-year-old served as President from 1997 to 2011.

A statement from the Camogie Association thanked McAleese “for her unwavering commitment to Integration and for her leadership over the past four years”. 

Uachtarán an Chumainn Camógaiochta Brian Molloy added: “I would like to thank Dr McAleese for all she has done for us since her appointment. She has been a huge asset to the Integration process, and her exit is a huge loss.

“Like Mary, I too was disappointed with the decision to step back from the agreed goal of one Association by 2027. I believe that while there were significant concerns, none were insurmountable.

“In 2024, the three Associations announced the timetable to deliver full Integration by 2027. It was lauded as a momentous step towards unity, equality and inclusivity.

“The Camogie Association remains committed to the Integration project and hopes that the three Associations can realign on the path to delivering that vision – One Club, One County, One Province, One Congress, One Association – as was set out in 2024.”

- Additional reporting from Sinéad O’Carroll

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