THE GAA has issued a statement stressing that it did not formally support last Sunday evening’s rally in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, in support of the Quinn family.
The rally – close to the former Quinn Cement site, and close to the family’s original home of Derrylin in Co Fermanagh – had been attended by a number of prominent figures from the world of Gaelic games.
High-profile attendees included Tyrone football coach Mickey Harte, former Meath manager Seán Boylan and forward Colm O’Rourke, former Armagh and Galway football manager Joe Kernan, and former Armagh forward Jarlath Burns.
This afternoon, in response to coverage of the rally, the GAA said it was “a non-party political organisation”.
Its “individual members may, of course, decide to take positions on a range of issues in accordance with their own personal views”, it said.
As an Association, however, it would be entirely inappropriate for the GAA to become involved in matters outside its remit.
Peter Quinn, the brother of Seán and father of Peter Darragh – both of whom have been found to be in contempt of High Court orders in relation to their business affairs – is a former president of the association, serving as its head from 1991 to 1994.
Another former president, Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly, had described the support from Gaelic games figures as being an embodiment of the GAA ethos of supporting ones locale.
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