Mary McAleese says ‘savage’ GAA meeting pushed her closer to quitting integration role

Mary McAleese has described a “savage meeting” with the GAA leadership that contributed to her decision to resign as chairperson of the Steering Group on Integration (SGI). The former president of Ireland also said she had previously offered to step down last year but was persuaded not to do so after the GAA gave reassurances of its commitment to the 2027 timeline for integration.

In September, McAleese did resign as chair of the SGI – a committee established in 2022 to facilitate the ambition of amalgamating the Gaelic Athletic Association, Ladies Gaelic Football Association and Camogie Association.

The 2027 target had been announced at a press conference in February 2024, at which McAleese and the leadership of all three organisations were present. But just over two months ago, the GAA sent correspondence to the SGI formally stating it no longer believed the target was achievable.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Irish Times, McAleese says her successor, John Horan, might be well placed to get integration over the line because of his stature in the GAA and his deep knowledge of how it operates.

McAleese, speaking for the first time since the week of her resignation, remains critical of the association’s management committee and recalled a meeting with the GAA leadership late last year. She said she was told, ahead of the meeting, “they’d just love to hear from you and it’ll be very benign”.

“Well, it wasn’t very benign. It was a savage meeting – it was horrible – at which I was told that the SGI’s plan for integration, that this group (the GAA’s management committee) would not support it.” McAleese, who said GAA president Jarlath Burns and the association’s director general Tom Ryan did not speak at the meeting, claims she was “excoriated”.

She said she noticed a change in the GAA’s position about a year ago. “Behind backs there were briefings, that there hadn’t been enough communication, that the 2027 date for integration – set by the GAA, not by me – was unattainable.”

Before meeting the Oireachtas Committee on December 17th, 2025, McAleese offered to step down if the proverbial goalposts had been moved by the GAA.

Prior to the meeting, she said, “we agreed what would be said to that committee”.

She said she directly asked Burns and Ryan: “Are you committed to this? Because I’m not going to go in there and say that you’re committed if you’re not.”

She told them she was “perfectly happy to resign and [you] get a different person, because there’s a view going around that somehow I’m the problem”. She asked them directly if she was the problem, to which, she said, ”they both emphatically said ‘No’.”

McAleese said she then asked: “So, are you (GAA) as an association 100 per cent committed to what I, on your behalf, am going to say to the Oireachtas Committee? And they said, ‘Absolutely’.”

The process for McAleese reached its endgame in early September when the GAA set out a readjusted position. She said she was “definitely” let down, as was “everybody who invested in the integration process”.

Last month, former GAA president Horan was appointed as her successor, somebody for whom she has “huge respect”.

“I think his appointment shows a belief that the main obstacle [to integration] lies within the GAA and he’s a heavyweight within the GAA. He has to shift the obstacle. Can he do that? He probably has more chance of doing it than I had.”

The Irish Times asked the GAA to comment on McAleese’s remarks.

The GAA responded: “As previously stated, the GAA reiterates its full commitment to integration and is working closely with the Camogie Association and LGFA to ensure that all aspects of the process are addressed comprehensively.

“Our shared objective is to achieve an integration that is carefully considered, properly structured and delivers a fair, balanced and sustainable outcome for all, including those boys and girls who will play Gaelic games in the years to come.”