McAleese: 2027 integration realistic despite resistance

The Steering Group on Integration (SGI) chaired by former president Mary McAleese has said "pockets of resistance" to the merger of the associations have not hampered their work, with a target date of 2027 remaining a "realisable target".

The Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport met this morning to discuss integration of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA), Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), and Camogie Association (CA), with the head of all three codes present as well as Dr McAleese.

Responding to a question about the difficulties of the process from Fine Gael Wicklow-Wexford TD Brian Brennan, Dr McAleese said it has not been of significance in the overall picture.

She said: "There are pockets of resistance, there's no point in saying otherwise. Your county might actually have been involved in recent comments in that regard.

"We conducted the biggest survey ever taken in any sporting organisation in Ireland to make sure we knew what their ideas were.

"Over 90% in every single code, in every single age category, was firmly in favour of integration. We’re not going to get 100%, but here’s the thing, integration is the future.

"We were asked by the three congresses to prioritise integration because from the ground up that is what people wanted.

"We have met literally hundreds, if not thousands, of experts on the coalface who are telling us what needs to be done and what will work best and what is best practice. That is what gives us confidence that the roadmap we have put together has the backing of the people we have talked to. They are the coalface.

"We’ve been feeding off the complexities [of integration], trying to iron them out, trying to make sense of them and putting all the pieces of the jigsaw into a manageable plan. We think we are there.

"But what we need is backing and buy-in. We need that when we go and take our plan [into the public], that people get behind it and say this is exactly what we need."

Asked if the date of 2027 for completion was ambitious, for a singular organisation that will have a million members, she added: "If we were starting today, 2027 would be a very ambitious target. We started in 2023. We set that target date back then. It was and remains a very relaxed target date. It is our target date for one organisation for all codes; 2027.

"In the intervening years since we first announced that date, and that date was gathered by looking at the work that needed to be done to achieve integration and achieve it well, we’ve been doing that work consistently and overwhelmingly at times.

"If we were starting today, yes of course it would be ambitious, but in 2023 it wasn’t and it is a realisable target. That is the plan we’ve been working towards, that’s what we’ve been scheduling towards, and we believe firmly that it is achievable."

The SGI will commence a roadshow which starts in Spring 2026 where they go around the entire country, "showcasing our analysis and our draft plan", according to the Steering Group on Integration chief.

Dr McAleese added: "From them we’ll have the opportunity for feedback and when that feedback comes we’ll have a refined and honed plan for implementation. We will surely need an implantation group and that is a live discussion with us at the moment.

"One of our difficulties over the last few years where we have been gathering all the formation and distilling it, we are an advisory body. We’re not a decision-making body. We have three separate organisations with their own way of deciding things.

"We’re not always in a position to go public with what we think is the best way to go forward until that has been put to those individual groups. We’re very conscious of it. We’re bang on target to get that information out into the public and the three codes and members. They are our first line of communication."

President of the GAA Jarlath Burns (above) also addressed his comments where he said it would take €500 million to achieve parity, a statement which Camogie Assocation head Brian Molloy dismissed in the aftermath.

Burns explained: "I know a lot of people raised eyebrows when I referenced €0.5billion.

"What I meant by that was if we’re going to do it right, going to do it right by females, that is what it is going to cost.

"As someone who has managed female teams myself, I know we are woefully inadequate.

"If we move to a situation where at the moment it’s discretionary provision of the GAA towards camogie and LGFA to compulsory provision in a full brand new organisation, I think we have to be big enough to accept that our current infrastructure is unacceptable for females to play in and change in. That is going to cost a lot of money.

"We’re not saying it has to happen on day one. It’s an infrastructure process like everything else, but that is what it is going to take."

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