John Horan appointed as new chair of Integration Steering Group

It's over 20 years since the GAA first looked at integrating women and their games into the country's largest amateur sporting organization, and just a few weeks since the woman asked to steer the project into a promised proper start of next year walked away, furious because the GAA told her it would take longer. Former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, has now been replaced by the former president of the GAA, John Horan, who led the organization through COVID. We've been getting reaction from Tom Parsons, former Mayo footballer and chief executive of the Gaelic Players Association, who represent intercounty players, men and women.

Yeah. Well, look, firstly, I'd like to welcome John Horan and, and wish him well, and I sent him a message last night. And I suppose what's important first is that we don't prejudge on anything. You know, we, we, we'll judge the, uh, the chair on, on delivery and outcome of quality of process. And I suppose, look, I'm supposed to maybe acknowledge concerns when, when people would maybe hear a former GAA president, um, being appointed as the, the independent chair of the steering committee because, you know, Dr. Ma- Mary McAleese was absolutely and significantly independent. So it's, it's, you know, can... I, I'm sure some people are wondering is, will, will John Horan be independent because he's former GAA president. But, you know, from the GPA's perspective and from my perspective, I think we'll, we'll absolutely judge John on his delivery. And, you know, it's positive that the three NGPs quickly agreed on a new chair, and that's really important.

Have you had any dealings with him in the past in your role in the GPA?

Yeah. Look, I suppose I would've been on the Nat- National Executive Committee, um, when John was former president and, you know, he would've tackled, I suppose, a difficult time with the association during COVID. So, you know, over the years, I've met John numerous times, and a very, very credible person. I suppose, you know, in this role, some of the advantages John will certainly have is the relationships he would've built up. Uh, his governance expertise is really important. And I think to achieve what we need to achieve in, in integration, being able to influence at those governance structures, congress, central councils, is really important.

And what do you, what do p- players want and expect from him now?

I think what's really important is that we see a clear road- roadmap. We see timelines. That's really important. Um, that is still a little bit uncertain. We've seen the governing bodies in an Oireachtas committee during the week, and timelines came up again and again. The Camogie president mentioned a timeline of as- achieving one association by January 2028, and the players would certainly like and, and, and push for that timeline to be achieved, and certainly want, we want to see motions to enable integration in the, in the congresses in February. So look, that's really important, an equal voice, a clear roadmap, firm timelines, and measurable progress. So I'm looking forward to the progress that John will make.

You mentioned Brian Molloy's timeline of 2028. And I don't know if you heard the