GAA Representatives Insist The Association Is “Not Ready” For Integration

0:00The last word with life pharmacy over 100 local pharmacies nationwide that are always here to help life pharmacy live better together. We speak to sanitary found equivalent in a second, but column keys is GA correspondent of the Irish independent. What do you make of Jarra Burns, the GA president saying today that there was a legitimate fear that an integration motion for GA delegates a special congress next month was set to be voted down? Do you think is that likely to have been the case? Is a possibility, Mac, because of the fears over finance, the gap in funding, the intercounty, the integrated intercounty structure. There were certainly fears around that and not recent fears, by the way, fears that were expressed towards the end of last year at various county conventions that were reported

1:00on at the time that this was all moving too fast and the financial question, but how that gap would be bridged between a player charter and the team supports that ladies, football and Kamagi currently get compared to Maine. And that's what spooked the horses, Mac, for one of a better word. I'm not sure whether it would have been voted down, but I think there would have been a lot of caution, a lot of hesitancy and as a consequence management, the GA management met the weekend before last and that was the sense that came out. The same sense, by the way, that was their last Christmas, the meeting just a few days before Christmas, where the timeline, the 2027 timeline was described, the consensus for management that that time was that it was unrealistic. So in many respects, I'm not surprised, I'm surprised it went as far that it wasn't stalled and that the this deadline wasn't pushed out a lot of earlier.

2:02Obviously, GA officials and Mary McLeese have been before a raucous committee to say yes, everything was going fine. And maybe they did believe after those meetings and after those conventions that this would still be achievable. Clearly, when Jarrett Burns has expressed that, the money is the biggest concern. But why you said, okay, because you add the intercounty, Kamogi and ladies football to the GA's bill, but presumably the sponsorships and other revenues that come in as it is for Kamogi and ladies football would also have transferred across. And even if the rates that were been paid and expenses to the women had to be increased to match the men, surely a wouldn't have resulted in doubling the annual bill to the GA. I don't believe a word. That in fact, there's a committee part of the steering group and integration that looked

3:04at this. Tom Parsons from the Gail Claire's Association was part of that. And they came to have figured out minimal, except of standards to be achieved. Would it would cost around 10.3 million. So somewhere between 10 and 11 million that they were factoring. And that's if you didn't do anything. So they're raising or they're rational. If we don't do anything, that's what would cost. But if you did work around the length of the season and the numbers of who are on squads at the moment, it's up to 36 that the GA will fund. There's a number of savings you could make. Chared platforms for IT and for medical and all of those which shared platforms that would obviously be savings to. So I don't think it was the blunt instruments of just doubling. And obviously there is money there. Benchmarked against ladies football and Kamogi training, well preparation money as well. So that's all there already. So it was around 10 to 11 million. I think the fear among counties in the GA was that it would go above that.

4:08But I think sacrifices would have had to be made on the men's side too. That certain elements of the players charter and the funding of the teams that that would have to be paired back as well to bridge that gap. And I still think it's an achievable gap. It's just going to need more time to discuss this and trash this out. But I think it is achievable over a period of time. Okay. Finnega's Senator Ivan Nguyen. 24 hours on after hearing this news. How are you feeling about it now? Hi Matt has gone. So I mean, I'm not surprised that they are saying that it might be voted down. I'm not surprised at the narrative around maybe people being spooked and getting worried about the cost and getting worried about how this would actually work because there was such a void of communication, a void of information and anything that was coming through was being dripped fed through certain sources. And it was all very, it was all very cloak and dagger until that first rock this committee

5:11hearing where, you know, I suggested maybe a little bit more communication, transparency would serve everybody well because then anybody that had spooked about it would understand it better. And people who are looking forward to it happening could maybe encourage those around them to get behind it. This business of men having to concede to women in terms of a player charter and equal like the minimum standards, that has to happen anyway. Regardless of whether integration happens, that has to happen anyway. So I think that's probably, you know, it's not a mood point, but it's definitely not something that should be making the decision around whether integration is possible next year. And I would just wonder how difficult it is to trust what anybody is saying now because of the, anything that was said at committee, both in December 2025 and June of this year was said in good faith, I'm sure, but was delivered so robustly.

6:13And when Jonathan Burns speaks and when Mary McElise speaks, they speak with intent, everybody sits up and listens, sits up and listens because they are people of a certain gravitas. And we talk everything they said as a fact. And now it's difficult to understand how there's been such a U-turn even since a meeting of central council. I think it was in August. And this wasn't tabled as a potential motion. It wasn't mentioned as, you know, a huge big iceberg coming towards us that has taken everybody's breath away, really. OK, even what do you make of the fact that about half of the GA management committee, our female, who've agreed to this GA position? Yeah, nine out of 19. From what I understand, two of them got their voting rights quite recently. And I think five, now I might be wrong, but certainly there had to be five or six added to that group just to be acceptable to the ministers, rules around four percent board

7:13composition. So I'm not sure in terms of the voices. I really am not sure how much of an influence those women have. And I have to be so carefully saying that because I'd love to hear from them because nine out of 19 sounds like, oh, yeah, sure, everything must be fine. But the reality is, Matt, everything is not fine. Like 2022 is when this was muted. It's when it was voted for 89.9% of members voted overwhelmingly in favor of prioritizing integration. That was the language of the motion. Some people thought, wow, that's such a long time. 2027 is five years away. Was five years away in 2022. So we've already lost a whole generation of playing women and girls. Yeah, and there are people who were getting to 2027 going, yes, we're nearly there. We're nearly there. Let's go. We're nearly at integration. And now we're looking at a possible and other five years. I just don't think that's acceptable. It's being done at club level. I just think there needs to be a little bit of pulling up the socks and getting it done. OK, there's a very interesting text, which I think sums up a lot of the issues here.

8:15And we're going back to club level. I have a son and a daughter in the same club, a very prominent club in Cork. They both charge the same fees, but that's where the similarities end. Kamogi never allowed the main pitch. The young boys prioritized over senior female teams. Women who have been involved in the club for 30 years plus after rent training area from another club for social Kamogi. Not only club this happens in inter-county, same situation. So it's just the issue. A lot of facilities are been shared, but they're not been shared on an equal basis. Even players, men and women, boys and girls are in the same club. And that percolates weight its way up to inter-county as well. Because they're owned by the GAA and some people don't fully understand this. Like the Ladies Gaelic Football Association, the Kamogi Association, are constantly at the mercy of the GAA, allowing them to train and play on their pitches. So the point was made today, I think, about, you know, we can get to a place of equity

9:16when more women go, more people go to watch the women. They create more revenue and then they can have more money. Where are those matches going to be played exactly? Another listener says, my niece and nephew both play county minor. He gets new gear, bags, buses to matches, food put on at every training. She has to buy her own gear, drive to matches all over the country. And if the men's team want to train, then they get preference. So column keys. This is an issue not just about amalgamating, is it the governing bodies at the top? This is an issue that percolates down to the club level. And that's why it needs to be sorted, isn't it? Yeah, and it does need it, it does need it to be integrated at the very top initially to so that that message does go across that it is an integrated organization now. So that really has to happen. I think over time this fixes there and that will be achieved. As will the one membership, I think that's ready to go to, I think the shared platforms

10:18of all the committees, all the resources that's within the GA, that's there too, ready to activate. It's probably activated already across coaching and games development. I think there are all easy fixes, relatively easy fixes compared to the financial issue that I believe will hold this up for some time until there's a agreed structure and timeline around that as to how equality there is reached. Because equity really isn't the thing here. The motion that was passed successfully in 2022 called for equality. And equality means everyone getting the same. That's what equality means. And that's what must be achieved here. And it is going to be difficult because of the way counties feel about the gap in funding. Listen, it says, so tip lights on Astro and I've turned on for little girls in winter, but they are for the boys to get them turned on. The parents had to contribute two euro each week. How can I get my girls into this system gross? Just to finish you, Ivan Nikulin, the Finne Gayle Minister for Sport, Patrick O'Donovan

11:22met with Charler Burns in the GA today. Is there a role for the minister and the government in this because if there is, it might require the GAA stomping up money to sort this out? Yeah, I'm not at the minister was meeting with the GA this afternoon. I'm not. I'm not even sure if that meeting is finished yet. I certainly don't know how it went. And I'm sure the minister will have his own thoughts on what has transpired in the last 24 or 48 hours because he was as blindsided by this as everybody else as were his department. So yeah, I mean, like this is this is a money issue as well, Matt, as you well know, like every single grant application and grant allowance that was handed out in the last round was stipulated upon around 50% usage and around, you know, equal access to girls and boys. And it's the same for the F.A.I. if they get their whatever amount of million they need for their academies. There's a stipulation in there and it's predicated on equal access for girls and boys. So if we get to a stage where this is at a stalemate and we're looking at another five

12:23years, I'm just not sure how we stand over funding, you know, G.A.I facilities if they can't guarantee equal access and that is not where we want to be. We need more all-weather pitches. We need more facilities for kids to be able to play. We need more floodlights for them to be able to play in the evening time. And we don't want all of these, you know, kind of red tape issues to come into play. But that's unfortunately everything is going to have to be looked at now because there's been as Mary McLease described it, there is a bit of a role block now in the process. And I just think the searing group tried, sounds like they tried hard. I heard a lot of the work that they were doing when they came to meet us in June of this year. But they failed and maybe they weren't and maybe they aren't the right people to get this done. Maybe we need an independent committee with expertise and change management and corporate governance and finance to get this over the line. Sandra, Ivan Equilin and Column Keys from the Irish Independent. Thank you. The last word. With life pharmacy. Over 100 local pharmacies nationwide that are always here to help.

13:25Life pharmacy. Live better together.