PRESIDENT JARLATH BURNS has defended the GAA’s decision to continue its controversial partnership with Allianz, arguing that the company with which the Association does its business is not involved in the war in Gaza.

The 32-year-long partnership, which is contracted to continue until 2030, has come under significant scrutiny following the publication of a UN report in July, which identified Allianz’s German parent company, through its subsidiary PIMCO, among the companies and corporations which hold Israeli government bonds.

The GAA referred the matter to its Ethics and Integrity Commission, which delivered its long-awaited report on Friday, which led to the GAA’s management committee sanctioning the continuation of the partnership.

“I think it’s important to realise that Allianz Ireland is not involved in the war in Gaza, and it is fully compliant with the law,” Burns said in an interview on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1. “That came out very strongly in the report.”

He added: “The company that we do our deals with, and Allianz can call themselves whatever they want, is Allianz Ireland, Allianz plc. That company is not directly involved in any way in the war of Gaza.”

As well as sponsoring the GAA National Leagues, the All-Ireland Football Championship and Cumann na mBunscol, Allianz is the insurance underwriter for the GAA’s clubs and grounds, as well as the claims administrator for the GAA Injury Benefit Fund.

The report — which Burns described as “one of the most impressive reports I have read” — details the main justification for continuing the partnership, stating that it would be “impossible” to find another insurer which did not have similar links, as well as the potential legal and reputational consequences of terminating the partnership.

In August, a petition calling on the GAA to drop Allianz was signed by around 800 current and former players, but Burns does not envisage widespread discontent among inter-county players when the Allianz Leagues return next month.

“The players are volunteers. They can make their own decision on that,” he said.

“I know that we got a petition of 800 players and ex-players. That was significant, and that gave us the momentum to actually discuss it at our management committee and at Ard Comhairle, and that gave us the momentum to bring it to the Ethics and Integrity Commission.

“Remember, 800 might seem a lot. In the vast scheme of things, it’s 0.13% of our membership.

“I think in the last month, I have been to something like 27 clubs. At no stage has anybody brought me aside and said I’m very uncomfortable with this.

“I think that already a lot of our clubs and a lot of our units would know that, for example, if we went back on our word to get rid of alcohol sponsorship and gambling sponsorship, that it would solve a lot of the problems that we have in terms of revenue generation.

“We don’t do it because we know that ethically that’s the right thing to do, but we cannot be carrying out acts of self-harm on the basis of the fact that some people think that Allianz plc is directly involved. They are not.

“It is through a different company. I’m not going to go into the legal specifics of it now, but Allianz Ireland is not involved in the war in Gaza, and our Ethics and Integrity Commission have confirmed that to us, and we are happy with that.”

He added: “I think as the president of the GAA, it would be wrong for me to do what a lot of people do — and I’m not saying that any of the people who have given us representation have done that — a lot of what passes for discourse in the modern era is just you read something on Facebook and it becomes your embedded viewpoint. I think that would be folly for the GAA to go down that road. We didn’t. We went into it in great detail.”