GAA president Jarlath Burns has said he will not retract an email he wrote to Naas GAA over the potential appointment of Rory Gallagher to the club’s senior management team after the former Derry manager threatened legal action against him.
Mr Gallagher threatened legal action over claims the head of the GAA tried to “sabotage” his appointment to the coaching role, which the club later decided against.
Mr Gallagher stepped down as Derry manager in the days before the Ulster final in May 2023 after his estranged wife Nicola made allegations of domestic abuse against him.
She claimed she was the victim of physical abuse for more than 24 years and that GAA chiefs in Derry and Fermanagh were told but took no action. He says the allegations were “investigated and dealt with by the relevant authorities” and the former Fermanagh player has not been charged in relation to the allegations.
Speaking on the Late Late Show on RTE on Friday night, Mr Burns said he would not be retracting the correspondence despite the threat of legal action. He also said the GAA was not interested in “cancel culture” and that there was a “way back” into management for Mr Gallagher.
“I don’t bear any ill will against anybody. I hope he doesn’t, but I can’t retract anything that I have said in good faith in a private email to a club,” the GAA president said.
“I don’t say that with any sense of ebullience or determination or ‘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, and I wish him and all of his family well and I hope that we can reach a resolution to this.”
Mr Burns said the correspondence he had with Naas constituted advice and that the decision on whether to appoint Mr Gallagher was ultimately for the club to make.
He said: “I did take the opportunity to contact Naas and just let them know the reservations that I had, given the values and principles that we have in the GAA, which are very important for us.
“If Naas GAA had decided thank you for that advice but we are not going to take it, that was me finished with that.
“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.
“Once they decided what they were going to, it was none of my business any more. But it was a private correspondence that I entered into.”
The GAA president also addressed the issue of a sexual assault allegation which was made following an incident on a team to trip to Miami by the All Ireland winning Armagh senior football team.
The PSNI and Miami Beach Police Department are both investigating the complaint and a man in his 30s was later arrested and released after the team returned home. The man who was questioned by police has denied the allegations.
“There is a right of anonymity to all parties involved in this, a right to privacy,” he said.
“Neither of the parties have waived that anonymity, it’s 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 even for the GAA to act outside of what we have to do legally, yet.
“But when that time comes, we will.
“I would really pay tribute to the amount of work that has gone on behind the scenes. Now obviously because I’m an Armagh person, when setting up the critical incident team I took myself out of it because as an Armagh person, I’m too close to it.
“But we have some of the best minds in this country within the GAA and advisors outside of the GAA advising us on this.
Mr Burns described the procedures being followed by the GAA in the case as “robust”.
“At this point in time, the area of adult safeguarding is something we are addressing. We have learnt lessons from another issue which has occurred in Ulster and one of the recommendations of that would be that the GAA and other sporting organisations would have to address the area of adult safeguarding.
“We have done that by means of setting up what we call a sports integrity unit, that’s going to be rolled out in the next couple of weeks and you will see more of that after Congress happens at the end of February.”
