Óráid an Uachtaráin Jarlath Burns 2026

A chairde,

Is mór an chúis áthais dom teacht in bhur i láthair agus labhairt libh tráthnóna ag Comhdháil Bhliantúil Chumann Lúthchleas Gael.

Tugann an Chomhdháil seo deis órga dúinn ar fad bualadh le hionadaithe ó Chontaetha agus ó thíortha eile agus athbhreithniú ionraic a dhéanamh ar an bhliain atá díreach thart - agus muid ag pleanáil ar aghaidh do na blianta atá amach romhainn.

Bíonn gá ag aon chumann nó ag aon eagras náisiúnta breathnú orthu féin go hoscailte go minic le déanamh cinnte go bhfuil siad dílis dá gcuid spriocanna agus dá gcuid bunaidhmeanna agus tugtar deis dúinne i gCumann Lúthchleas Gael a leithéid a dhéanamh ag an chomhdháil seo achan bhliain.

Dar ndóigh, tá go leor bainte amach againn le blianta beaga anuas agus smaoiním ar na hathruithe i rialacha na peile agus próiseas an chomhaontais maidir le himeascadh Chumainn na gCluichí Gaelacha atá go maith faoi lánseol ag an phointe seo. Ní tharlódh sé sin gan tacaíocht na Comhdhála seo agus gabhaim buíochas libh uilig as ucht bhur gcuid tacaíochta agus bhur n-ionchur agus cinntí den chineál seo á ndéanamh again.

Cé gur eagras spóirt go príomha muid tá muid difriúil ó eagrais eile spóirt. Tá cur chun cinn na Gaeilge agus an chultúir Ghaelaigh fite fuaite inár gcuid cluichí agus inar gcuid gníomhaíochtaí. Iarraim oraibh smaoineamh ar na gnéithe fíorthábhachtacha seo de chuid an Chumainn i dtólamh. Bímis bródúil as na gnéithe seo agus bíodh an Ghaeilge ag croílár achan rud a dhéanann muid.

Sula dtéim níos faide ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh le John Murphy, le Ger Ryan agus le Derek Kent. Rud cróga a bhí ann dóibh, ina bhfuil muinín agus misneach de dhíth fána choinne, a gcuid ainmneacha a chur chun tosaigh d’Uachtaránacht Chumann Lúthchleas Gael. Gabhaim buíochas leis an triúr acu. Déanaim comhghairdeas, dar ndóigh, le Derek – Uachtarán Tofa Chumann Lúthchleas Gael agus guím gach rath ort. Tá mé ag súil go mór le bheith ag obair go dlúth leat.

With hopes and aspirations and steely determination, a small group met in a small room in a hotel in Thurles in 1884 to set forth the GAA.

Today, at the end of what has been another successful congress I want to thank you for your contribution this weekend and for your commitment every weekend as we, the inheritors of that legacy, continue that vision for the GAA, and having met, not in a billiards room, but as GAA representatives from all across Ireland and the globe, gathered in our home, one of the finest sporting arenas anywhere in the world, to drive the GAA forward after what was an outstanding year.

The honour and the trust you bestowed on me continue to motivate me to work every day for the betterment of the GAA at home and abroad.

And when I think on what inspires me in this role - my mind is drawn to a helicopter trip I was fortunate to take across Ireland last November.

So, before anyone accuses me of losing the plot or worse, losing the run of myself, it was a hastily arranged courtesy trip on a day I was double booked and allowed me to attend two club functions on opposite sides of the country that otherwise would have been impossible and I assure you, a one off. As a proud South Armagh man, we grew up with a suspicion and a distrust of helicopters, I spent the first 20 years of my life trying to stay out of them.

One thing I noticed though was that no sooner were we in the air than the unmistakable sight of GAA grounds came into view. Pitches, dressing rooms, club houses, walking tracks, astros and flood lights…the horizon was adorned by GAA clubs that were neatly embedded in our land, each one of them as much a part of the local identity as a mountain, river or stream.

This patchwork quilt of club pitches dots the landscape and each one stands as a monument to the ordinary men and women who have given extraordinary service to this phenomenal movement that we call the GAA.

It was a reminder that an Ireland without the GAA, would be an unrecognisable place.

When you read the letters that Michael Cusck wrote to Maurice Davin in the summer of 1884, there is a sense of urgency on the page.

He was stirred by a sense that our cultural identity was being lost, but, more than that, Cusack was motivated by the listless people he saw on his travels; Irish people drifting, without proper access to sport and without something to which they belonged.

This is the DNA that is at the core of the GAA, which has a manifesto of Where We All Belong, where a GAA club promotes native games but goes way beyond that in terms of promoting community.

My great friend and mentor, Páraic Duffy, said the biggest challenge facing the GAA is always to be relevant.

Making the GAA relevant is hard to describe – but you know it when you see it.

I saw it first-hand in Vietnam where Daniel Burke has used the Viet Celts GAA club to help disadvantaged and at-risk children in Hanoi have access to not just sport, but education, nutrition and opportunity.

You can see it in the life’s work of someone like Oliver Galligan who we lost since our last congress – a man who was the epitome of service and dedication to something bigger than himself. At the start of every Ard Chomhairle meeting there is a list of names read out of GAA members who have passed on – ag dul ar shlí na fírinne. These are people who have literally, dedicated their lives to the GAA.

We can see it in the faces of the men and women in our own clubs who nurtured us on our journey in the GAA, the selfless souls always first up for the thankless tasks.

And I am forever reminded of it when I think of Bellaghy’s Seán Brown, last man out and locking up the Wolfe Tones after a busy day of activity at the club field - paying for that community duty with his life and having his memory marred by the incomprehensible and inexcusable delay that is still inflicted on his family and their quest for an enquiry in search of the truth about his murder.

On that, I would ask that you send your support to the family of Seán Brown, and likewise the families of the many other names we could list who have been targeted and terrorised for being associated with the GAA. We want them to know that we remember them, honour them, and stand with them.

The Football Review Committee established under Jim Gavin had arguably more to lose than they had to gain when they signed up for the biggest rebuild of Gaelic football in more than 100 years.

However, having a group of that calibre put their reputations on the line to revive the game was a statement of intent, and for the rest of us, seeing those people believe it was a risk worth taking encouraged all of us to embrace the opportunity that the new rules offered.

This was never about having a perfect game universally loved. If anything, the FRC has left us plenty of food for thought with a list of possible future amendments. But, it was about having a better game to play and watch than what we had - and we achieved that.

The impact of the rules on the shop window of inter-county was instant, but I was more heartened by the effect they had on the club championship and also, the badly needed improved level of respect shown to our match officials. Respect is one of our values, and referees should always be valued and so it was a welcome by product of their work.

The key to the success of the FRC was our Games Intelligence Unit, which provided thorough academic analysis and insight into the trials taking place. Gone were the days of us addressing rules on a whim. This new process means that the FRC had rules that were analysed by the Games Intelligence Unit who then were able to properly inform the Standing Committee on Playing Rules when it came to drafting motions.

This approach was as comprehensive as it was convincing, and the next logical step is to put in place a permanent, sustainable monitoring structure. I am therefore delighted to announce that our new Expert Advisory Group on Gaelic Football will be chaired by the great Kevin McStay to build on the progress that has been made.

For the first time in recent memory, the 2025 football championship was destined to outshine the hurling campaign. But then the Munster hurling finale, the Dublin dismissal of Limerick and Tipperary’s second-half All-Ireland surge ensured that the bragging rights were probably shared.

Just as great a hurling highlight for me was the 45 starter packs in clubs looking to resurrect or introduce hurling in their area.

This interest in a hurling revival could be mapped from Dún na nGall to An Daingean, and in fact we produced a video highlighting the return of hurling after a gap of several years to Daingean Uí Chuis – the same club that would later be crowned AIB All-Ireland senior club football champions – a really important reminder that we have a duty to promote Gaelic games, not pit one against the other.

No one believes that we need a Hurling Review Committee to the same extent the FRC was so necessary. However, the success of what has happened in football means it makes sense for us to see where hurling could also benefit. That is why the Games Intelligence Unit will extend its remit to provide data, insight, and analysis for hurling as well as football.

The goal here is to ensure that we never again need to carry out major open-heart surgery on our games. This is a moment that we need to seize and after the revolution it is time to create space for natural evolution.

That is why I am also delighted to announce that, liaising with the GIU, we will also have an Expert Advisory Group for hurling which will be named in the next two weeks.

I am excited by the potential that exists in both of these Expert Advisory Groups and we have a structure in place now that allows our games to evolve naturally and allows us to be proactive and not reactive in how we manage the fundamental reason we are here – which is play games.

Speaking of potential and evolution, it’s potential for enhanced growth and success that is at the heart of the enormous work taking place around integration.

A living embodiment of the sean fhocail ní neart go cur le chéile, we believe that there is strength in unity, but it is not without its challenges and to try to suggest otherwise would be wrong.

Standing here at the end of February 2026, I am mindful that much of the talk and anxiety around integration is fixed on calendars and dates and people wondering and worrying if 2027 is a be all and end all day of deliverance.

I see nothing but goodwill on the part of those tasked with merging three of the biggest sporting Associations in Ireland under the one banner called the GAA. But I also see a realisation that what matters is not that we hit a deadline - but rather that we reach a destination that makes an integrated GAA functioning, successful and above all, sustainable.

Integration doesn’t have an expiry date.

If we agree on it being worthwhile, then making sure it is built to last is what matters. And if that means it happens in quarter 1 of 2027 or quarter 4 of 2027 or even if it happens at a later date is not what matters.

We have been fortunate to have someone of the leadership and integrity of Iar Uachtarán na hÉireann, Mary McAleese as part of this process. Her energy, enthusiasm, and experience have been hugely beneficial, and we have a clear roadmap that sets out the work to be done.

Are we there yet? No, we are not. Have we agreed on everything? Of course not.

Patience is a virtue, and we need to stay focused on the prize.

If you want to know what the grass roots of the GAA really think, there is no better source than GAA Presidential candidates, people who have for weeks and months literally criss-crossed the country talking and listening about the burning GAA issues on the ground.

All three of the candidates before us this weekend are friends of mine and people who have given lifetimes of service to our Association. When these three people at the end of their campaigns believe that when it comes to integration we should make haste slowly as Emperor Augustus said, then we should be mindful of that because if that is what they have picked up on the ground then we need to listen.

Integration will create a GAA entity that has a combined active membership of roughly one million people – a movement that has proven to be of enormous significance to Irish life in terms of economic impact and also social value and improved health and wellbeing.

It will push towards a 150^th anniversary in 2034 with the likelihood of having a membership of 1.5 million and a playing base of one million Irish men and women and boys and girls by the time that anniversary dawns.

This year alone, the GAA will support our clubs with five million euro to help with their work on improving pitches, clubhouses, dressing rooms and facilities that anchor us in every nook and cranny of this island.

It is part of a commitment that saw us reinvest 83 cent out of every euro we received last year directly back into our Association.

We have not and will not be found wanting in pushing forward and securing a future for Gaelic games and the GAA to maintain its preeminent place in Irish life.

But we cannot do it alone.

We are blessed to have two outstanding individuals charged with supporting sport in government, in Minister Patrick O’Donovan and Minister of State Charlie McConalogue.

Not only do they understand the power and positive influence of all sports in benefitting society, but we are fortunate that they know through their own experience the influential role that the GAA plays in sustaining communities and the impact that Gaelic games has had on generations of Irish people.

Integration will come at a sizeable cost to the GAA to ensure our facilities are fit for purpose in our clubs.

And the investment that has been made in building a county grounds infrastructure, the envy of many, brings with it a responsibility to maintain those venues and make them suitable for players, spectators and for health and safety requirements. Provision for women in our facilities which before now might have been discretionary must now move to obligatory.

The report of the National Demographics Committee last December has spelt out the stark reality of where our future challenges lie.

I hope that Ministers O’Donovan and McConalogue get support from their cabinet colleagues when it comes to assisting the GAA to make the most of the opportunity that integration brings.

We have ideas on how that might work. But we need government support to bring them to life.

The migration of people to the eastern counties of Ireland has changed our country and we must adapt to match the pace of this change.

We have been busy building to meet this need in places like Waterford’s Walsh Park, St Conleth’s Park in Kildare and exciting projects that will begin to come out of the ground in Louth and Navan’s Páirc Tailteann. Training centres such as those earmarked for Armagh, Ballykinlar and Dublin’s Hollystown will also cater for significant demand.

And then there is Casement Park. This topic has been addressed by the Ard Stiúrthóir in his report, but I will add this…It is a sad reflection on society in the North that the provision of a ground for Gaelic games should be such a contentious issue.

When we saw only recently the debate in the Executive about how profits in Casement Park would be targeted, with one party going to the trouble of organising a full debate in the chamber to try and force the GAA to give back any profit made by the new Casement Park, it gives you a little glimpse into the incredibly fraught environment that Ulster GAA, Antrim GAA and the people behind the Casement Park project have been operating. These people cannot be faulted for the ongoing delays and obstacles which keep the gates of the ground closed in West Belfast. But we remain committed to having a new home for the GAA in Ireland’s second city and there will be a Casement Park.

The three areas that I was elected on were focused on football and hurling development and the amateur status and I am pleased that all three areas are being dealt with.

In the coming year I will be committed to seeing the GAA work with the Government to see if we can secure a revised form of the Immigrant Investor Programme which could be used to benefit investment in the sporting infrastructure of Ireland.

The challenges of demographics put this sharply into focus. In fact, demographics is now at the forefront of every decision we make when it comes to infrastructure and we have been busy meeting ministers, elected representatives, Oireachtas committees and local authorities and I want to thank Shane Cassells for his advice and guidance in this area as well as the indomitable Benny Hurl who finished up his term on Ard Chomhairle today, but is just getting started.

We often hear from authorities about the need to support communities with the provision of municipal facilities. But today, I want to send a clear message to all those involved in local government in Ireland.

Public land zoned for sport that isn’t big enough to house a GAA pitch is not municipal and is not a real community initiative. That needs to change.

As efforts are made by local and national authorities to tackle Ireland’s housing crisis, we will play our part to remind the relevant bodies that green spaces are the lungs that communities need to breathe. These green spaces need to be GAA friendly spaces - especially in an integrated GAA.

I know from my travels to clubs in every county that there is a sense that the GAA has been undervalued, taken for granted, and penalised for having its house in order.

This is not about an beal bocht or having a begging bowl. But it is about the GAA standing up for itself, arguing about its case and being more proactive in asserting ourselves when it comes to support from government and local authorities.

It’s never been the GAA way to look for credit, but it’s no harm reminding people of the danger of being complacent about an organisation that is totally dependent on volunteer effort to sustain the phenomenal impact it has in our communities, one that has a proven return on investment and harnesses a volunteer effort that would cost more than one billion euro to replace.

The GAA is 142 years old this year, its foundation inspired by Michael Cusack - a schoolteacher from Carron in Co Clare. Hurling and camogie received UNESCO intangible cultural heritage status in 2018. And we hope that Gaelic football and Ladies Gaelic football will join that prestigious list next year.

In areas as diverse as Galicia, Brittany and Germany - Gaelic games is being imbedded in school curriculums. At home the GAA funds 375 coaches across Ireland to introduce children to our games and create a club and school link. However, our games are not officially a part of the school curriculum. Hopefully, this will change and the legion of teachers who maintain a generational devotion to promoting our native games will get curriculum support to do so.

We ourselves have lots of work to do to continue to stay relevant. The success of the new, solely GAA owned, GAA+ venture and the opening of our new broadcast suite at Croke Park was a major way to start the 2026 season and is a part of the work that we must do to be able to tell our story.

We were right to pioneer this venture – just as we were right to agree 100 years ago to allow the newly formed 2RN station to experiment by carrying a full live radio broadcast at a Kilkenny-Galway hurling semi-final in August of 1926 – and creating European broadcast history in the process.

That approach to innovation has stood to us and I was delighted to recently announce a new partnership with National Broadband Ireland pioneered by our very own Noel Quinn,that will see new customers ordering a broadband service on the NBI network before 31st March receive an annual subscription pass valued at €95.

This is on top of the assistance we will provide to GAA clubhouses and we will continue our partnership with Nusrsing Homes Ireland and gift 30,000 nursing home residents with access to a GAA+ season pass.

The media landscape is a constant sea of change, and GAA+ is an important part of our strategy of being able to stay afloat in those waters.

The Ireland of my youth had one of the highest per capita newspaper readerships in Europe if not the world. Those of a certain vintage will recall the stalls at the gates of the church where small mountains of newspapers and magazines were stacked and sold in vast numbers after mass.

In the last year alone, there were five full time GAA writers who departed national newspapers amid consolidations and redundancies euphemistically called efficiencies. The Northern Standard newspaper ceased printing, and so, another great local newspaper institution was silenced.

Like demographics, these societal changes are not something we have caused but are developments that impact us directly. We have a great story to tell and need to be able to do so in the modern media world with all its different platforms and outputs. We are well served by the men and women who cover our games professionally in the media, the majority of whom also fill roles in their own clubs, and they are an authentic voice.

Whatever the medium, showcasing the incredible players who are a source of inspiration to all who enjoy our games is of extreme importance to us, and I am delighted that the GPA have acknowledged the need for enhanced media engagement as part of their new GPA Playbook.

The men and women who play at the highest level of Gaelic games are outstanding ambassadors for their generation. These young, intelligent, well-educated and articulate people have inherited our national games and through their dedication and devotion are custodians of Ireland’s living cultural heritage and help pass it on to the next generation. Managements who gag them and prevent them from exposure promoting our games do them and us a disservice and I am pleased to report that our request for improved media relations from inter-county teams has seen improvement – one that needs to continue.

The 13 years I played senior football for my county were some of the greatest days of my life. Anyone who has ever played, be it club or county, knows the dressing room is a sacred place, and I would love nothing more than to sit down again and rub shoulders with those men in Armagh, Ulster and Silverbridge jerseys who would rather die than let you down. The blood, sweat and tears of laughter, joy and even at times, sorrow, were worth every last drop.

In our day, sports science was in its infancy, sports psychology would have been regarded as voodoo, a great session could be measured in how many people threw up during it and nothing said you were ready for championship quite like a dust up in training the week of a big match. The medals were great...I wouldn’t trade them and would love to have had a few more – but nothing matters more than the friendships and the memories that we made.

Looking at the lifestyles of the modern-day player, leaves me in awe of the ambassadors we have for our games now; the heights of skill and fitness that have been scaled and their relentless pursuit of excellence.

Times have indeed changed, and players are faster, stronger and jump higher, but what is constant is the unquenchable burning desire to play and represent the place you call home and the people you call your own.

The motions that were before us this weekend on amateur status and the playing season came as a result of feedback. It is possible, maybe inevitable, that there are more lessons to learn and this is the job of congress: to discuss and debate and safeguard our games and our association and let democracy dictate our path.

I want to conclude by congratulating Derek on his election as Uachtarán Tofa. After a lifetime dedicated to his club, county, province and serving on national committees, I know he has the skills required to be an excellent leader, and I look forward to working with him over the next 12 months until he takes office.

It is a fantastic occasion for his family; his club and county Wexford and he will have all of us rooting for him during his tenure.

He doesn’t know it yet, but he has a team of dedicated people serving in Croke Park under our Ard Stiúrthóir Tomás Ó Riain - ready and willing to serve and he will learn just what an asset they are and one that he can rely on, just as he can rely on the calm but assured leadership of Tom Ryan and the manner in which he has successfully steered our Association.

But I also want to congratulate Ger and John for their campaigns and thank them for putting themselves forward. Our Association is all the better for having them in our ranks.

It’s always easier to sit on the fence, snipe from the sidelines, have the benefit of hindsight and hurl from the ditch – to not take the risk of running or put themselves in the firing line and be what was once famously described as the ‘cold timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.’ We should be grateful that we had three great candidates who had the courage of their convictions and the grá for the GAA that spurred them to stand.

I have been in the seat where they sit now and as difficult as it is, I know that in time they will continue to play a part in the progress the GAA makes.

The election of Uachtarán Tofa sets the clock ticking on my own tenure. But anyone who thinks I will be freewheeling towards the finish line will be disappointed.

Traveling to clubs and counties and seeing the GAA in action fuels you and gives you energy and enthusiasm.

The GAA is about Games, but it is really about people.

Being Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael gifts you high summer Sundays presenting cups at Croke Park - but it is about so much more than that.

Golfer Padraig Harrington recently told a story of playing in the Middle East and how on pitches near the course he could see men and women playing hurling and camogie and the impact it had on him.

We have yet to fully grasp and truly appreciate the phenomenon that is World GAA, the incredible work being done in far-flung places that Cusack and Davin may never heard of but who are the purest essence of people-first, community support hubs who enable the Irish Diaspora to make a home from home and express their Irish identity through our unique and beautiful games. The GAA World Games will take place in Waterford this July and I would urge everyone to make it their business to get involved in this incredible event.

Our games are the gift that keeps on giving, but so too does the environment built-up around them. There is a place for everyone in the GAA and as precious the medals I won on the field of play are to me I am equally proud of and treasure the medals I won at Scór and being part of that fantastic initiative that uses the GAA to champion so many other aspects of our culture.

The most humbling honour will always be the opportunity to see the magic of the GAA in action.

I’ve presented medals, unveiled plaques, cut ribbons, launched club histories and welcomed club and county strategic plans – each time feeling enormously proud of the passion that drives our members to commit themselves to this phenomenal movement.

Likewise, I have been equally as proud and often overwhelmed when I've represented the Association and attended wakes, and stood in kitchens, in parlors or back garden gazebos and seen the quiet, caring, unassuming hands of GAA people looking after one of their own at a time of need and sorrow in a community.

To any of you who see yourselves in one of those roles you have my thanks. So too the members who do jobs that you couldn’t pay most people to do – like allocating pitches for training and matches, a job that was never as tough as it has been in the first rain-sodden eight weeks of 2026, and likewise we are indebted to our children’s officers carrying out the mountain of in person checks required as part of the new vetting protocols.

Life would be easier if you didn’t bother doing it.

But what sort of a life is that?

We should be forever grateful that in the GAA we have people who understand that and who bring our ethos to life.

The GAA is about David Clifford and John McGrath but it is also the sense of belonging that means everything to the group who meet on a Monday night in Silverbridge to play cards and their hands of 45 and have cups of tea and craic once the club lotto work is done.

The GAA I see is flat to the matt fundraising - flogging cars, camper vans and even houses, doing lip synchs, strictlys’, oscars nights, race nights and you name it – all so that the GAA in their area will extend its roots ever deeper into the place they call home.

Usually this fundraising is for facilities, maybe an all- weather pitch for their nursery on a Saturday morning and where tradition and culture, like the glue of family and community pass ó glúin go glúin.

The exact nature of the worthy cause will change from place to place but the effort to get out and get it done is the same.

The growing number of clubs putting in walking tracks to make exercise safer and more inclusive for their community says everything to me about what the GAA is and what our culture and values are – so too, the growing number of clubs who are inspired to make their club welcoming and inclusive to our New Irish and to children with additional needs and allowing those children and their parents to be a part of who and what we are.

This is the GAA that I am proud to be a member of and prouder still to serve.

It is a GAA that has never had a one size fits all approach and cannot be described with a neat label – but you know it when you see it because it is us, it is the best of us and long may it always be so.

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis na himreoirí uilig - idir óg agus aosta - a chruthaíonn cuimhní iontacha agus a thugann sonas dúinn lena gcuid gaiscí ar an pháirc imeartha ó cheann ceann na bliana - ar pháirceanna imeartha ar fud na tíre.

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil fosta leis na réiteoirí, na cóisteálaithe, leis na hoifigigh agus le hachan duine eile a thugann a gcuid ama go fial flaithiúil agus a oibríonn go deonach le díograis agus le dúthracht le cinntiú go bhfuil Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ar an chumann spóirt agus pobail is fearr ar domhan.

Go raibh míle, míle maith agaibh uilig.