Independent TD for Tipperary Mattie McGrath has criticised Dr Mary McAleese’s comments on GAA leadership as “deeply unfair.”
The TD has accused McAleese of “attacking the institutions that have really served this country so well.”
The Clonmel TD is defending the GAA after the former President resigned from the chairperson of the Integration Committee overseeing the amalgamation of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association, saying that she felt momentum for integration was fading.
McAleese claimed that the GAA sought to delay the agreed timeline and a fear of having women taking over decision-making in the association.
McAleese described the GAA’s stalling on the agreed timelines for integration as “almost like a betrayal of the women in our sporting cultures.”
In an interview on her departure with RTÉ Radio 1’s Inside Sport the former President of Ireland said it was “a slap in the face” for women in the GAA.
“And not just the women, but the men who support them, the ‘one clubs’, that groundswell that has been so strong in arguing for the integration of Gaelic Games, seeing it as a wonderful, wonderful dynamic future.”
It followed the GAA telling the steering group that it could not commit to the definitive timeline for integration. McAleese had been appointed as Independent Chair of the Steering Group on Integration two years ago:
In response, the GAA thanked Mary McAleese for her leadership, contribution and commitment, and said that it remained “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.”
TD Mattie McGrath said he believed Dr McAleese “relishes, or even actively seeks out, opportunities to engage in non-substantive criticism of national institutions.”
The Former President – who has a doctorate degree in Canon Law – is a high-profile critic of the Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality and women priests.
“I always admired President McAleese and Uachtarán na hÉireann did a fine job. But in recent years she seems to be obsessed with, you know, many other issues that are really – I won’t say outside of her remit – but attacking the institutions really that have served this country so well. In this case this week it’s the GAA, last week it was the Catholic Church and next week it’s something else.”
He also said the comments on GAA management were “inflammatory and highly damaging.”
The Clonmel TD previously accused the former president for “hogging the airwaves” prior to the late Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland in 2018.
McAleese had described the World Meeting of Families as “a right-wing rally,” with McGrath responding on Pat Kenny: “She was damn glad of the support of the Irish people – as she calls them now ‘bog standard Catholics – when she wanted to get elected.
“She used them, so she should now, if she wants to form her own church, go do so and get off the stage.”
Meanwhile, Gaels for Fair Play, a grassroots campaign of players, coaches, volunteers and parents who say they are seeking fairness for women and girls in Gaelic games, highlighted another angle to the story. It said that the development of a transgender participatio=n policy had been put “ahead of integration.”
The GAA has said it aims to approve a transgender policy ahead of the 2027 to establish a “unified participation framework” across Gaelic games.
“The stalling of the integration orcess also has implicsations for women and girls who are being denied safety, fairness and equality because of @LadiesFootball association policy of male inclusion.
“Last year, ahead of integration, a process overseen by the GAA’s Medical, Scientific and Player Welfare Committee to formulate a transgender participation policy covering all three associations commenced, but it now seems highly unlikely that it will be finalised any time soon.
“So we will once again seek to engage with LGFA management and request a meeting to discuss the urgent safeguarding and fairness concerns its current policy raises. As always, we do so in the interest of player welfare, fair play and integrity in our sport,” it said.
Meanwhile, former Sunday Game host Evanne Ni Chuilinn is among those who have backed Ms McAleese, as she led criticism of the GAA over the news that the three Gaelic games bodies won’t integrate next year.
The now Senator said she was “really worried” by comments made by Dr Mary McAleese, adding that, in her view, the group has “failed in its project”, and that a person with Dr McAleese’s experience does not step down “without good cause”.