What is the GAA doing about the other ban? Has the leadership got a strategy to persuade its members in Northern Ireland to accept the deletion of Rule 21, which prohibits RUC members and the British security forces from joining the association?
When the ban was last debated in 1998, the then president of the GAA, Joe McDonagh, made it clear he thought the rule should go. It was in the wake of the Belfast Agreement. There was optimism and a sense it was time to
move forward. The President, Mrs McAleese, was among those who appealed for Rule 21 to be deleted.
The Ulster leadership of the GAA disagreed, passionately. Faced with the threat of a mass walkout of Northern delegates, the leadership backed off. A fudge was agreed in a motion which committed the GAA to delete Rule 21 "when effective steps are taken to implement the amended structures and policing arrangements envisaged in the British-Irish Agreement".
That time may be closer than the GAA leadership realises. Recruitment for the new Northern Ireland Police Service is going well. The aim is that the new service will be 50-50 unionist and nationalist. Anecdotal evidence suggests that young Catholics, many of whom have come to maturity since the first IRA ceasefire in 1994, are considering joining.
When the rule was debated in 1998 there were allegations that the Ulster leadership came under pressure from Sinn Fein. This is not quite fair. Many republicans are supporters or members of the GAA. A considerable number of them have served prison sentences. Their views carry weight, but they are only part of the experience which has shaped the attitudes of GAA members in Northern Ireland.
During the Troubles, the GAA was the victim of harassment - and worse - by the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. The murder of Aidan McEnespie, who was shot by a soldier as he walked to his local club outside Aughnacloy; the British army's occupation of the GAA ground in Crossmaglen; the burning of club houses are just a few examples.
IT is understandable that many GAA members in the North should have regarded Rule 21 as a protection. The fact that its existence confirms many unionists' view that the GAA is sectarian is irrelevant.
But there are other considerations. The majority of GAA members live in this State. Given that the vote in favour of the Belfast Agreement was over 90 per cent, it is reasonable to suppose many of them supported it.
The agreement is well bedded in. Sinn Fein is in government. Easter lilies adorn the hall at Stormont. A police service which can command the respect of both communities is the next step forward.
The GAA is one of the most important organisations for nationalists, and one with an enviable record for motivating young people. What it does about Rule 21 will carry weight.
The Patten Report on Policing appeals to "all community leaders, including sports authorities, to take steps to remove all discouragements to members of their communities applying to join the police and make it a priority to encourage them to apply".
That may be a challenge for another day. But as a first step, Patten recommends that Rule 21 should be scrapped because it acts as a deterrent to Catholics who might join the police and is "a factor separating those Catholics who do join the police from an important part of their culture".
In his impressively evenhanded book, How the GAA Survived the Troubles, Des Fahy, who writes for this newspaper, tells the story of one fine GAA player who did join the RUC. Sean McNulty was 16 when he won an All-Ireland medal playing for the Down minor team in 1987.
For several years he was regarded as a shining hope for the Down team. Then, in 1982 Sean McNulty joined the RUC. It was, he told Des Fahy, a matter of conviction. From the age of five or six he had wanted to be a policeman. But nothing had prepared him for how much he would miss the GAA, or for the sense of being placed apart from his community.
SEAN McNulty still believes that one day he will be able to return to the GAA. He wants to see his son playing Gaelic football. He also believes that other policemen, some of whom played Gaelic sports before the Troubles, share his hopes.
The Northern Ireland Police Service will soon be a reality. There is intense speculation that the SDLP will express support for it, while Sinn Fein will reserve its position without expressly condemning it.
If that happens, the GAA will come under pressure - not least from Bertie Ahern, who has so much riding on the peace process - to scrap Rule 21. It will be argued that the association has no problem in taking large amounts of money from the British exchequer and is hardly in a position to continue to exclude any section of the Northern Ireland community.
At a higher level, a genuine movement towards ending the ban would make a brave contribution towards reconciliation. It would remove some of the suspicion with which unionists regard the GAA. It would also go a long way towards repairing the PR disaster of the past week.