Laura Murphy adds her voice to the demand for accountability from the GAA following resignation of Mary McAleese

Controversy erupted today, following the resignation of the former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, from the role of Chairperson of the Gaelic Athletic Association's integration committee.

The committee had been formed to bring together the three strands of the Gaelic sports movement in Ireland: the GAA, the LGFA (Ladies Gaelic Football Association) and the Camogie Association (which oversees the running of the women's version of the game of hurling, which is called 'camogie').

Mary McAleese cited as the reasons for her resignation "changes to agreed timelines, a GAA management committee that she described as "less than impressive", and her feeling that there were "people who are not entirely happy about the idea of including women in decision-making at the top level of Gaelic sports."

The Director General of the GAA, TomRyan today responded in relation to accusations of misogyny. "I can't accept that, I would refute that in the strongest possible terms," he said. "I'm very, very proud to be part of the GAA and I'm proud of what it is and does. It's an inclusive organisation, it's a family-oriented organisation and it's a progressive organisation.

"In leadership terms, both nationally and locally, there are countless women who play a huge part in guiding and driving the organisation."

However, there are many women who will feel that MAry McAleese would not have resigned if there were not a real issue with equal treatment of women, and their sports. And against that backdrop, the celebrated poet and activist, Laura Murphy, has wrtten an opel letter to the President of the GAA, Jarlath Burns.

"I call on the GAA to explain transparently why the agreed process was halted," Laura Murphy says, "to answer Dr McAleese’s concerns directly and to restore a binding, publicly accountable, time-bound path to One Association."

Re: An Open Letter to the President of the GAA

Dear President Burns,

Last Saturday, 83,000 people filled Croke Park to honour Katie Taylor. Three days later, Dr Mary
McAleese resigned as Chair of the Steering Group on Integration. She was broken-hearted by the GAA’s
retreat from its commitment to One Association by 2027 and voiced the grave concern that some within
the GAA do not want women making decisions at the highest level.

These moments present two profoundly different visions of Ireland. One is expansive, courageous and
ready for the future. The other appears fearful of sharing power.

Dr McAleese was right to speak of vision. Without vision, an organisation entrusted with carrying a
nation’s culture has nothing. The great power of the GAA is unity. It holds Ireland whole, uniting all 32
counties through parish, club, county and province and carrying that shared belonging across the world.

Yet an Association that unites the 32 counties cannot call its vision complete while it fails to unite women
and men. Women have never been peripheral to the GAA. They have been peripheral only to its power.
For generations, women have played, coached, fundraised, organised, washed jerseys, transported children
and sustained players, clubs and communities. They should not have to access Gaelic games through the
back door, nor wait outside the rooms where their future is decided.

Unifying the three associations would strengthen Gaelic games, replacing fragmentation with coherence
and releasing the generative power of a shared purpose, a force greater than any association could create
alone.

Integration is not simply a cost. It is a strategic investment in the growth, coherence and future of Gaelic
games. As you yourself have said, a fully integrated organisation would be “unstoppable in terms of
commercial capability”. Financial realities may shape the pace of equal investment, but they must not
determine who belongs or who decides. Money can explain phased implementation. It cannot justify
indefinite structural separation.

At a time when equality is being rolled back elsewhere, the GAA must not import another country’s
culture war into our national games. Ireland’s story is one of an ever-widening understanding of who
belongs. Equity cannot be invoked to postpone equality. Equity is the work; equality is the destination.
I call on the GAA to explain transparently why the agreed process was halted, to answer Dr McAleese’s
concerns directly and to restore a binding, publicly accountable, time-bound path to One Association.
Croke Park showed us the future on Saturday. The question is whether the leadership of the GAA has the
vision and courage to join it. Unity is already the beating heart of the GAA. It must now be embodied in
its future.

Aontas must mean all of us.

Ní neart go cur le chéile.

Le meas,

Laura Murphy
Poet and cultural activist