GAA president Jarlath Burns has declined to retract his email to the Naas club, in which he expressed concern about suggestions that the club was considering appointing Rory Gallagher as coach.
The concern centred on allegations of domestic abuse against Gallagher by estranged wife Nicola, which forced his resignation as Derry football manager in 2023. Gallagher, a former Fermanagh footballer, vehemently denied the allegations and pointed out that the charges had been investigated by the PSNI and not pursued.
His Ulster Council “temporary debarment” pending review was overturned by the GAA’s independent arbitration tribunal, the DRA, last February.
The Naas appointment didn’t go ahead. Gallagher released a statement, through solicitors, taking issue with the president’s intervention and calling on him to retract the contents of the email.
“Absent such a retraction, I will have no other alternative but to take legal action to cure the irreparable damage done to me and my family in my ability to continue to work as a manager in the years ahead.”
On Friday’s Late Late Show special, dedicated to the GAA, Burns was asked in a pre-recorded interview by host Patrick Kielty did he intend to make the retraction.
“I don’t bear any ill will against anybody,” said the president. “I hope he doesn’t [take legal action] but I can’t retract anything I said in good faith in a private email to a club and I don’t say that with any sense of ebullience or determination or, you know, ‘bring it on’.
“This is a really tragic situation for a family. It shouldn’t be getting discussed on The Late Late Show. It’s just sad that it is on such a wonderful evening for the Gaelic Athletic Association but I hope that it doesn’t go to that, and I wish everybody well.
“And there is always a way back for people. The GAA is not interested in cancel culture. There is always a way back for people and we have told Rory that as well. Rory is aware of the way back for him. I wish him and all of his family well and I hope we can reach a resolution on this.”
Kielty reiterated the original question, asking: “But you’re not going to retract the email?”
“No.”
Burns said that Friday’s interview was the first time he had spoken publicly on the issue. Given the “values and principles we have in the GAA, which are very important,” he had decided to contact Naas about the potential appointment. He also placed the issue in the context of a recent partnership between the GAA, Ruhama and White Ribbon to advance a new project aimed at raising awareness and action through sport to tackle Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV).
“I wouldn’t be true to myself as the person, whose number one job is to protect the values of the GAA if I didn’t point out to somebody somewhere that I had reservations. Once they decided what they were going to do, it was none of my business anymore.”
The president added that the GAA would be setting up a Sports Integrity Unit to deal with what he termed “breaches of values”.
Kielty raised the contrast between the president’s stated views on Gallagher, who has not been found guilty of anything, and the silence on Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes, who was convicted of violent disorder last year but continued to play for the county and was named an All Star in November.
“There is a difference between a player, who comes under the influence of a coach and a coach under whose influence the players lie. I think that’s a massive difference.
“That situation in Limerick happened before I was president and I’m not going to be meddling or interfering in any case but in this instance [Naas], I contacted the chair of the club and we felt that possibly the best thing for me to do would be to write to him.
“That’s what I did and they called an emergency meeting. If they had decided not to, that was their business as well and they wouldn’t have heard from me again.”
Burns was also asked about an alleged incident that took place on the Armagh senior football team’s holiday to the US, which is now in the hands of the PSNI and therefore sub judice.
“There’s a right of anonymity to all parties involved in this. Neither of the parties has waived that anonymity. It is now a matter for other people to deal with. It is not for me to speak about this – yet. When the time does come, I will speak about it and it’s not the time for the GAA to act outside of what we have to do legally – but when the time comes, we will.”
He said that he recused himself from the association’s Critical Incident Team, which is reviewing the situation, “as an Armagh man” but said that he was satisfied that the procedures were “robust”.
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