Remarks at the Derry GAA Annual Congress
23 March 2013
Ladies and Gentlemen.
First of all, I wish to thank the President of the GAA Liam O’Neill for his introduction and, indeed, for the courtesy and kindness he has extended to me during the course of our various interactions – including our shared enjoyment of a game of shinty in Ennis last year. I also wish to thank the former President of the GAA, Christy Cooney, for his warm greeting on our arrival here at the Venue in Derry.
Ta an-áthas orm bheith anseo ar maidin. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Ard-Stiúrthóir, Páraic Ó Dufaigh as a chuireadh caoin chun teacht le labhairt le Comhdháil an lae inniu, agus mo bhuíochas a ghabháil libh-se go léir freisin as an bhfíorchaoin fáilte sin. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil Páraic ina iar-Phríomh-Oide ar Choláiste Naomh MacCarthainn i Muineachán, is coláiste a raibh sé de phléisiúr agam cuairt a thabhairt air anuraidh le linn dom dul i gcomhairle le hóige na tíre. Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a ghabháil le Páraic as é a bheith ar an gcéad Ultach a ceapadh chuig post an Ard-Stiúrthóra agus guím gach rath air san obair sin.
[I am delighted to be here this morning. I would like to thank An tÁrd Stiúrthóir, Páraic Ó Dúfaigh, for his kind invitation to address today’s Congress and all of you for that kind welcome. I know that Páraic is a former Principal at St Macartan’s College in Monaghan which I had the pleasure of visiting last year during my national consultation with young people. May I congratulate Páraic on being the first Ulster man to be appointed to the role of Director General and I wish him well.]
It is a particular pleasure to be here during what is a very special year for Derry. To be designated the City of Culture for 2013 is a great honour indeed but also richly merited.
I know that the Derry Gaelic Athletic Association are active participants in this venture, making their own important and unique contribution to the demonstration of Derry’s impressive culture and heritage throughout the year.
In fact, it is very hard to discuss Irish culture and Irish history without acknowledging the central role that the GAA has played in Irish life for many, many years and how closely intertwined it is with local communities and with Irish society as a whole.
It is worth remembering that an organisation that is now represented in continents across the globe began as a meeting between seven men in Hayes Hotel in Thurles to discuss the setting up of a new organisation to govern the playing of Irish pastimes. One of those seven men, Maurice Davin became the first President of the newly established GAA and, within two months it had attracted six thousand spectators to a hurling match in Galway; bearing testament to fellow founder Michael Cusack’s words that the Association had “swept the country like wildfire”.
Archbishop Croke, Michael Davitt and Charles Stewart Parnell were asked to become its Patrons. When a strict ban was imposed on members playing or attending any “foreign games” the Association and indeed my then fledgling Office were embroiled in considerable controversy when in 1938 Douglas de h-Íde was removed as patron for attending a soccer match in Dalymount Park. This and other stories of how the GAA interweaves with the social history of Ireland can be found in the Association’s insightful and deeply fascinating archive.
The GAA continues to be so much more than a sports association or a series of fixtures and results. It is the beating heart of many communities across the country, connecting neighbour to neighbour, promoting intergenerational solidarity among young and old and uniting a diverse and eclectic mix of people as they cheer together for their county colours.
Indeed, for anyone who grew up in Ireland it is almost impossible to imagine Irish life without our GAA clubs or to envisage a time when our great Gaelic sporting culture was not handed down to children and grand-children, bonding one generation to the next. As well as its many achievements, I am very mindful of the difficulties faced by the GAA as a result of the economic downturn in recent years – in particular, the terrible impact of emigration on the vitality and indeed viability of clubs in rural Ireland – and I commend the Association for the priority it attaches to addressing this challenge.
The official GAA figures for the end of 2012 are true evidence of the key role the Association plays in Irish society. By the end of last year, the GAA had almost one quarter of a million registered players, presided over 2,359 affiliated clubs and had over 300 staff working on games development at Provincial and County level. The GAA’s range of innovative programmes also reached into the heart of community life including nationwide coaching to primary schools, summer camps, children’s competitions and the inventive and important “Off the Booze and On the Ball” health promotion initiative which invites members to reflect on their use of alcohol and choose sport instead.
It is just over fifty years ago that John B Keane wrote one of his most poignant and moving plays ‘The Man from Clare’, focussing on the loneliness of an aging GAA star as he faces a life compromised and diminished by earlier sacrifices.
It is a theme which was also reflected in an initiative proposed by my predecessor Mary McAleese and aimed at tackling the isolation felt by many older men in rural communities. Such is the integral role of the GAA within our society that they were the obvious and immediate choice to manage and run this Social Initiative and they came on board immediately and enthusiastically. Today a wide range of activities are carried out in clubs across the country alleviating much loneliness and enabling both the renewal of old friendships and the formation of new ones. I look forward to receiving representatives who are involved in the GAA Social Initiative in Áras an Uachtaráin in May.
Amongst younger people too, the GAA can be a source of friendship and awakening to new possibilities. In fact, when I instigated my own discussion last year on
‘Being Young and Irish’ one of the regional workshops was held in the Nemo Rangers GAA Club in Cork and it was genuinely exciting to feel the sense of possibility and the real desire to realise that possibility that emanated from the young people I met there.
The GAA in Derry has been playing its own important and central role within its many individual communities for almost one hundred and thirty years now, creating numerous memories and weaving itself into the history of Derry towns and villages and the annals of many family lives. During that time it has also, of course, survived much political turbulence and violence, including the recent troubles during which three hundred and fifty Derry citizens lost their lives. In recent years it has, more happily, played witness to Derry’s re-incarnation as a young and vibrant city looking confidently towards a better future.
The sense of renewed optimism and community solidarity, which is now so palpable in this City, is a transformation in which the Derry GAA has played no small part, reflecting and living the GAA mission statement which affirms that:
“We welcome people of all nationalities, religions, ages and abilities into our association and we make it easy for everyone to take part.
We champion equality within the Irish sporting landscape and communities overseas. We work with the GAA family to make sure that we offer an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone.”
These are important, indeed essential, words that must lie at the heart of any community and they are words which assume an added significance when spoken in a city which has lived through, and survived, so many years of bitter divisiveness born out of prejudice and misunderstanding.
It is uplifting to see that spirit so tangibly present in all that the GAA does and all that it has achieved.
I greatly welcome and commend the various initiatives that the GAA has taken, especially the Ulster Council, in promoting reconciliation on this island and in extending the hand of welcome and friendship to communities in the North who traditionally did not participate in gaelic games. The welcome that was extended by Christy Cooney to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth when she visited Croke Park in 2011 was reflective of the Association’s generous commitment to an inclusive and shared future.
The GAA mission statement is also daily enacted across the country with local clubs actively engaged in welcoming all sections of society to their activities. In this regard, I welcome the priority that the Association attaches to eradicating any form of abusive attitudes or behaviour in gaelic games. I know that the GAA is also committed to promoting the participation of people with disabilities in sports and to ensuring that talent, skill and enthusiasm of members with disabilities is recognised. The success of Team Ireland with their 16 medals at the London Paralympic Games reflects what can be achieved when we support and empower athletes with disabilities.
I also greatly welcome the enormous growth in popularity of Ladies’ Gaelic football since its establishment. By the time the GAA was celebrating its 125th anniversary, over 130,000 females in this country, of all different levels and abilities, were engaging in gaelic football. In addition, camogie has become one of the most popular team sports in Ireland, attracting females from many different ethnic backgrounds to participate in over five hundred clubs around the world.
The GAA also plays a central role in Irish handball with the Irish Handball Council being renamed the GAA Irish Handball Council four years ago. Last year the World Handball Championships were held in Ireland, a great accolade indeed and yet another accomplishment for the Irish sporting world.
The reach and inclusivity of the GAA stretches beyond these shores and the GAA community has provided an important sense of home and continuity for our emigrants over the years – many of them battling against a sense of displacement as they tried to create new homes around the world. Last summer, I was delighted to be the first
President of Ireland to visit the Headquarters of the GAA in London. In Ruislip I was hugely impressed by the solidarity that existed between the young Irish men and women who were part of the GAA family in Britain and by the scores of young children who were enthusiastically chasing the football or the sliotar on the field of play.
It is reassuring to know that so many of our diaspora still retain their love of GAA sports, and their enthusiasm for supporting their county team; finding within that enthusiasm an indelible link to home and parish and town and village, and a means to connect with other members of our diaspora wherever they may be in the world. Many have also played Gaelic Games in their new homelands, introducing other nations and new enthusiasts to an important part of our proud culture and heritage.
Even in Argentina, the Hurling Club in Buenos Aires, which I visited last October, still cherishes its links with gaelic games – even if rugby and hockey are now its major sports. Indeed, there are GAA clubs in every continent across the globe and over 2,600 official clubs exist around the world.
This year is, of course, an important one for the Irish diaspora as The Gathering reaches out to our many friends, family and connections overseas, inviting them to join us in a year-long celebration of all that is great about their home country. I am pleased to say that The Gathering has been truly embraced by GAA clubs throughout Ireland and many clubs have come together to invite supporters old and new, from near and far to gather with them this year.
Níor cheart dúinn talamh slán a dhéanamh den dea-thoil, den fhlaithiúlacht anama nó den tiomantas arna leiriú acu sin uilig a oibríonn chomh crua sin d’fhonn a chinntiú go bhfanann an GAA faoi bhláth. Déanaim comhghairdeas leo siúd uilig anseo inniu a dhéanann a gcion chun Cumann Lúthchleas Gael a choinneáil suite go te i gcrói-lár na bpobal seo ’gainne. Tá súil agam go n-éiríonn leis an gComhdháil seo agus go mbíonn dea-thoradh air, agus sibh tagtha le chéile chun ceisteanna a chaibidil agus a phlé agus chun teacht ar bhreitheanna tábhachtacha a mbeidh tionchar acu ar gach leibhéal den eagraíocht sna blianta atá le teacht
[The abundance of goodwill, generosity of spirit and commitment shown by all those who work so hard to ensure the GAA continues to flourish should not be taken for granted. I congratulate everyone here today who plays their part in keeping the GAA at the heart of our communities. I trust this Congress will be a successful and fruitful one as you come together to debate, discuss and take important decisions which will impact on the organisation at all levels in the future.]
Go raibh mile maith agaibh go leir.