The postponement of a summit by US software firm Red Hat, due to take place at Croke Park, has been welcomed by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) due to the firms links with the Israel military.
Over the past few weeks, GAA leadership had come under criticism from current and former Gaelic footballers including Jack McCaffrey, Philly McMahon, David Hickey and Michael Darragh MacAuley, for announcing they would host a summit by a company with links to the Israeli military.
On the company’s website, a page entitled “Red Hat Summit: Connect 2024″ has now been updated to say “EVENT POSTPONED: A new date and location will be announced when confirmed”.
Neither the firm or the GAA have said the postponement was due to criticism from fans or members of the public but it is being welcomed by activists involved with IPSC who were strongly critical of the event taking place.
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The IPSC’s national chairperson Zoë Lawlor said the IPSC “very much welcomes this news and commends all who campaigned for the cancellation and contacted the GAA”.
“As we have seen from the huge street mobilisations and 11 months of vigils, demonstrations, protests, the length and breadth of the country, the majority of people in Ireland are completely opposed to Israel’s genocide and stand with the Palestinian people,” she said.
Ms Lawlor said would have been “unconscionable for an event hosting a company which provides material support to the Israeli military to be held anywhere in Ireland, not to mind in Croke Park”.
Gaelic football player Dr David Hickey, who played in six consecutive All-Ireland Senior Football Championship finals during the 1970s, has been an outspoken supporter of the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) movement.
He said he was “happy and relieved” at the news the summit had been postponed.
Veteran Dublin Gaelic footballer Michael Dara MacAuley shared his sentiments and added that he felt “showing solidarity with the Palestinian people is hugely important at the moment”.
Separately, there have been multiple protests by staff of the South East Technological University this year due to its ties with Red Hat.
The protests asked that the university cut ties with the US firm.
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