Camogie Association targets new January 2028 integration date

Incoming LGFA president Trina Murray in conversation with Camogie Association president Brian Molloy during day one of the LGFA Annual Congress at Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny, Donegal. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

The Camogie Association has set January 2028 as the new target date for integration.

In a letter circulated to county boards, Camogie Association president Brian Molloy proposes the creation of an implementation committee to help the Steering Group of Integration (SGI) with the task of merging the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association. A new SGI chair is set to be appointed on October 5 after Mary McAleese stepped down earlier this month after the GAA could not commit to a definitive timeline for integration. 

"As Uachtarán, I put my hand up and issue a mea culpa for not reading the signs that perhaps should have been clear sooner," Molloy said.

"It is always easy for people to point to items that should have been taken as clear indications that the process was in trouble. I’m happy to accept that criticism has some validity. Much is made of the media reported position of the GAA at the end of last year indicating that 2027 'was unrealistic'.

"Perhaps we should have paused at that point to ensure that what we were proposing was still considered achievable by all three Associations? Ultimately, the three Associations pressed ahead and we all participated in the roadshow which included the timetable for delivery of Integration by 2027."

He added: "We propose that this date (January 2028) would be committed to at the 5th October meeting of the Steering Group. We support the appointment of a new Chair to the SGI to be announced at the 5th October meeting of the Steering Group.

"We suggest that a transparent communications schedule be put in place by the national implementation committee to provide transparency around the progress being made over the coming year across all lines of effort.

"We also believe that the unit level integration committees that were to be in place by January 2026 need to be put in place in every county and province by the end of October 2026 without exception."