GAA PRESIDENT JARLATH Burns will not withdraw an email he sent to Naas GAA over their proposal to appoint former Derry football manager Rory Gallagher as head coach.
Burns made the remarks during the Late Late Show’s GAA special this evening.
The four-in-a-row Kildare senior football champions were poised this month to appoint Gallagher but quickly announced that they had reconsidered their position.
It was subsequently reported that Burns intervened in an email to Naas, while “an extraordinary volume” of emails were also sent to the club secretary from the membership of the Co Kildare club.
In May 2023, Gallagher stepped down as Derry manager in the wake of domestic abuse allegations made by his estranged wife, Nicola Gallagher. The Police Service of Northern Ireland investigated the allegations, and forwarded two files to Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in 2022, but no charges were brought.
In a statement in May 2023, the PPS said: “It was determined that there was insufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction for any offence in relation to any individual.”
A previous statement by Gallagher, issued through his solicitor Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, siad: “At all stages of this process, our client has firmly and steadfastly denied his guilt and refuted all the allegations levelled against him.”
Gallagher threatened to take further legal action if Burns did not withdraw his correspondence with Naas GAA. INPHO
INPHO
“With great power comes great responsibility. Mr Burns’ actions are premised on a misguided and self-serving compulsion to share his concern,” Gallagher said.
He added: “By Mr Burns’ own admission, his motivation is the ‘controversy’ surrounding my ‘personal life’ that ‘has created division’. These words should be a matter of concern to not just me and my family, but to every GAA member. It seems that social media commentary and controversy now equates to a licence for presidential intervention.”
The former Donegal, Fermanagh and Derry boss requested that Burns formally retract his communication with the club, threatening to take legal action to “cure the irreparable damage done to me and my family” if the GAA President did not.
Speaking on The Late Late Show’s GAA special this evening, Burns said that he will not be retracting his communications with the club and defended his email, claiming he continues to intend to have a hands-on approach to his role.
He cited the association’s ‘Gamechanger’ initiative, a scheme set up to raise awareness about gender-based violence through Gaelic Games.
“I made it clear when I became president that I wouldn’t be a hands-off president,” Burns said. “I did take the opportunity to contact Naas and let them know the reservations that I had.
“Given the values and principles that we have in the GAA, which are very important to us, one of them is underlined by the ‘Gamechanger’ initiative, which I launched on 25 November 2024.”
Burns said Naas GAA would always have the final decision to appoint Gallagher to the role or not and that there would not have been any repercussions had they chosen to not follow his advice.
“If Naas GAA had decided: ‘Thank you for that advice but we’re not going to take it’ – that was me finished with them. As you know, clubs organise themselves. We are the most democratic institution in Ireland.
“But 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 at least point out to somebody somewhere that I had reservations,” he added.
Burns said: “Nobody is saying that the road is not there for Rory to come back and coach.”
He added that when someone is a manager they are influencing their values and views onto a team, who can often be “very, very young”.
Burns said that he initially contacted the chairperson of Naas GAA privately and they both agreed “the best thing” to do was that the President write to him.
“It would be wrong of me to not intervene,” he added.
Written by Muiris O’Cearbhaill and posted on TheJournal.ie
GAA President will not withdraw email to Naas GAA over Rory Gallagher appointment
GAA PRESIDENT JARLATH Burns will not withdraw an email he sent to Naas GAA over their proposal to appoint former Derry football manager Rory Gallagher as head coach.
Burns made the remarks during the Late Late Show’s GAA special this evening.
The four-in-a-row Kildare senior football champions were poised this month to appoint Gallagher but quickly announced that they had reconsidered their position.
It was subsequently reported that Burns intervened in an email to Naas, while “an extraordinary volume” of emails were also sent to the club secretary from the membership of the Co Kildare club.
In May 2023, Gallagher stepped down as Derry manager in the wake of domestic abuse allegations made by his estranged wife, Nicola Gallagher. The Police Service of Northern Ireland investigated the allegations, and forwarded two files to Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in 2022, but no charges were brought.
In a statement in May 2023, the PPS said: “It was determined that there was insufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction for any offence in relation to any individual.”
A previous statement by Gallagher, issued through his solicitor Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, siad: “At all stages of this process, our client has firmly and steadfastly denied his guilt and refuted all the allegations levelled against him.”
In a statement issued to The Irish Independent on 9 January, described the GAA President’s actions as “unprecedented” and “an effort to sabotage my potential appointment”.
“With great power comes great responsibility. Mr Burns’ actions are premised on a misguided and self-serving compulsion to share his concern,” Gallagher said.
He added: “By Mr Burns’ own admission, his motivation is the ‘controversy’ surrounding my ‘personal life’ that ‘has created division’. These words should be a matter of concern to not just me and my family, but to every GAA member. It seems that social media commentary and controversy now equates to a licence for presidential intervention.”
The former Donegal, Fermanagh and Derry boss requested that Burns formally retract his communication with the club, threatening to take legal action to “cure the irreparable damage done to me and my family” if the GAA President did not.
Speaking on The Late Late Show’s GAA special this evening, Burns said that he will not be retracting his communications with the club and defended his email, claiming he continues to intend to have a hands-on approach to his role.
He cited the association’s ‘Gamechanger’ initiative, a scheme set up to raise awareness about gender-based violence through Gaelic Games.
“I made it clear when I became president that I wouldn’t be a hands-off president,” Burns said. “I did take the opportunity to contact Naas and let them know the reservations that I had.
“Given the values and principles that we have in the GAA, which are very important to us, one of them is underlined by the ‘Gamechanger’ initiative, which I launched on 25 November 2024.”
Burns said Naas GAA would always have the final decision to appoint Gallagher to the role or not and that there would not have been any repercussions had they chosen to not follow his advice.
“If Naas GAA had decided: ‘Thank you for that advice but we’re not going to take it’ – that was me finished with them. As you know, clubs organise themselves. We are the most democratic institution in Ireland.
“But 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 at least point out to somebody somewhere that I had reservations,” he added.
Burns said: “Nobody is saying that the road is not there for Rory to come back and coach.”
He added that when someone is a manager they are influencing their values and views onto a team, who can often be “very, very young”.
Burns said that he initially contacted the chairperson of Naas GAA privately and they both agreed “the best thing” to do was that the President write to him.
“It would be wrong of me to not intervene,” he added.
Written by Muiris O’Cearbhaill and posted on TheJournal.ie
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