{"id":618729,"date":"2026-09-09T00:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/618729\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T00:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:06:21","slug":"gaa-management-committee-lacking-in-vision-says-mary-mcaleese-after-stepping-down-as-integration-chair-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/618729\/","title":{"rendered":"GAA management committee \u2018lacking in vision\u2019, says Mary McAleese after stepping down as integration chair \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former president of Ireland Mary McAleese<\/a> has launched a stinging criticism of the GAA\u2019s leadership after taking the decision to step down as chairperson of the Steering Group on Integration.<\/p>\n

She charged the GAA<\/a>\u2019s management committee with being \u201cless than impressive\u201d and \u201clacking in vision\u201d, adding that the decision to resign has left her \u201cdevastated\u201d.<\/p>\n

McAleese had remained steadfast in her belief the integration of the GAA, LGFA<\/a> and Camogie Association<\/a> could be complete by the 2027 deadline, but scepticism around that time frame from some of the parties involved had caused friction.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Let\u2019s just slow down\u2019: plan to integrate Gaelic codes raises concernsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely devastated,\u201d McAleese said on RT\u00c9 Radio 1\u2019s Inside Sport programme on Tuesday evening, just hours after her resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that, in her opinion, there was a lack of leadership at the top level of the GAA.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, I was shocked to hear the current president of the GAA say [in correspondence] that in fact he didn\u2019t really support the idea, having supported it up to now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leadership is not evident and the commitment to integration has evaporated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m broken-hearted for the parents of young girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

In statements released on Tuesday night following the news, the Camogie Association and LGFA both thanked McAleese for her contribution.<\/p>\n

Camogie Association president Brian Molloy said McAleese was \u201ca huge asset to the integration process and her exit is a huge loss\u201d, adding the Camogie Association \u201cremains committed to the integration project and hopes that the three associations can realign on the path to delivering that vision\u201d.<\/p>\n

The LGFA said McAleese\u2019s decision to step down \u201ccomes somewhat unexpectedly, given what we understood to be constructive discussions at the latest meeting of the Steering Group on Monday evening regarding the integration process\u201d, but thanked her for her \u201cdedication and leadership\u201d in the role, adding they too remain fully committed to the integration process.<\/p>\n

The GAA stated: \u201cThe GAA acknowledges that, after four years, Dr. Mary McAleese has stepped away from her role as Chairperson of the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish to express our appreciation and thank Dr McAleese for her leadership, commitment and contribution to the work of the group. Dr McAleese has played an invaluable part in advancing the future of Gaelic games and delivering the integration project to this significant juncture. She departs her role with the sincere gratitude and good wishes of the entire Gaelic games family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next phase of the project will be to distil the substantial and constructive feedback received from a wide range of stakeholders into a refined set of key principles and structures, and to derive a detailed and sequential workplan, all of which will be advanced in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe GAA remains firmly committed to building a single Association that honours the identity, heritage and contribution of each of our sports while creating a stronger and more inclusive future for the entire Gaelic games family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former president of Ireland Mary McAleese has launched a stinging criticism of the GAA\u2019s leadership after taking the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[38531,4183,61,60,91290,5785,112],"class_list":["post-618729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-camogie-association","tag-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ladies-gaelic-football-association-lgfa","tag-mary-mcaleese","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}