GAA Annual Congress: The GAA's Annual Congress gets under way in Killarney this afternoon with the shadow of Rule 42 still hanging over the first day's proceedings. It is even possible that tonight's opening session might propose holding a special congress on the controversial rule later this year.

Motions relating to the provision, which is used to prevent soccer and rugby being played in GAA venues, were ruled out of order by the association's Motions Committee last month.

The subject can, however, be discussed during the debate on Director General Liam Mulvihill's annual report, scheduled for 8.30 tonight. But there are only 45 minutes allocated to the discussion and no vote will be taken on any individual element of the report.

"The counties are going to meet and discuss the situation before agreeing on how we proceed," says Noel Walsh of Clare, one of the counties that submitted a motion on the matter. "The debate will give an indication of how feelings are running. Counties in favour will get a chance to air their views and so will those against and we'll also see how the more neutral counties feel about the lack of debate on the motions submitted."

The two most mentioned potential remedies open to the counties are to press for a special congress or the holding of a national plebiscite on the issue among all GAA members.

The power to convene a special congress is a reserved power of Central Council under Rule 76 and requires the assent of two-thirds of the delegates. So not even Congress has the authority to summon one, but Walsh says this is largely a procedural consideration.

"If there was a consensus amongst delegates at Congress I can't see Central Council refusing to act on that. I can't recall a request for a special congress being turned down in the past."

In recent years there have been a number of special congresses going back to 1997 when the proposals of the GAA's Amateur Status Committee were debated. Since then Rule 21 (the ban on Northern Ireland's security forces, which was the subject of two special congresses, in 1998 and 2001), the football championship structures (2000) and the report of the Strategic Review Committee (2002) have all been discussed in this way.

Although Walsh remains optimistic about the idea gaining momentum at tonight's session, it seems unlikely that delegates will vote to suspend standing orders so that the prospect of a special congress can be debated.

The idea of a plebiscite was proposed by Roscommon last year. It is a concept with a bit of history, as 33 years ago when the notorious ban on foreign games (Rule 27) was finally dispatched the abolition was largely achieved without recourse to a congress debate. A Meath motion, passed at the 1970 Congress, to poll all members had already returned a result that saw only two counties, Antrim and Sligo, support the ban's retention.

Last year, however, Roscommon's proposal was referred to Central Council, who subsequently ruled that it wasn't a matter for them. A request that the original motion be added to this year's clár was rejected by GAA president Seán Kelly on the grounds that it hadn't been tabled in time.

Advocates of the idea are unhappy that the motion, having been passed from pillar to post by the GAA power structures, has been deemed to require resubmission.

As with the idea of a special congress being convened, the likelihood of standing orders being suspended to accommodate discussion of a national plebiscite is considered remote.

Other items on today's agenda are this afternoon's in camera workshops on the subjects of insurance, finance, games-coaching-administration and IT.

There are two significant disciplinary matters up for consideration. Kevin Brady, the Galway dual player who was suspended for six months after playing without authorisation in Britain last winter, is appealing to the Reinstatements Committee (formerly the Mercy Committee) to have his suspension reduced.

Coincidentally, Galway's opponents in this weekend's National Football League semi-final in Omagh, Tyrone, also have a case to be heard. It concerns the sending-off of Stephen O'Neill in the league tie with Kerry a fortnight ago. According to a Croke Park source, the county want the Games Administration Committee, which imposed the four-week suspension, to review the incident.

It is unclear on what grounds such a move is contemplated, as the rules suggest the next move would be to appeal the suspension to Central Council, which could then hear the case or allow the Management Committee to do so. For that appeal to be successful, a procedural flaw in the original decision would have to be identified.

Finally, tonight's opening session will conclude with an address from the president of the Camogie Association, Miriam O'Callaghan, on the occasion of the organisation's centenary.