GAA, Camogie Association and LGFA plan full integration in 2027

The GAA as we know it will be a brand-new association by 2027 according to the organisation. It was announced this morning at a media event in Croke Park that the Camogie Association and the LGFA will be fully integrated in to the new association within three years.

Former President, Mary McAleese has been chairing a steering group for the last 18 months and today it recommended that by 2027 there would be just one new association.

This means one club and one county board working to provide games, finance and facilities for its members. The recommendations come at the end of a detailed consultation process involving more than 30,000 respondents. The committee said it was clear that this was what the membership wanted to happen.

Over the next number of years staff in both the CA and LGFA will be subsumbed into the bigger new association. There will be no job losses.

In response to a question from RTE News, Mary McAleese said that on the contrary there was a strong possiblity of job numbers growing in the GAA

On the pathway ahead, McAleese, speaking at a press briefing at Croke Park on Tuesday, said: "The Steering Group on Integration, after 18 months of intense listening and discussion, has now a recommended pathway to what will be the most historic development in Gaelic games and that is one association for all of Gaelic games by 2027.

"Gaelic games are about to enter a new era. We are now at a point where the will of the members of the Gaelic games associations on integration can be delivered if our recommendations are followed and acted upon and made real."

On today's development, GAA president Larry McCarthy said: "One of the biggest ever sports surveys of its kind, with more than 30,000 responses, produced an overwhelming