Using State funds to underpin separatism

The allocation of £20 million of public funding over a three-year period to assist in the redevelopment of Croke Park raises a number of pertinent issues.

One of these concerns the propriety of a Minister for Finance making political capital on budget day from the distribution of National Lottery monies.

Another is the apparent omission of any conditional terms attaching to the Croke Park grant, quite the biggest to sport in the history of the State.

The Gaelic Athletic Association prides itself on the fact that in spite of its long-established difficulties in attracting membership in the high-density urban areas, notably Dublin, it is still the largest sporting organisation in the country.

Over the years, its contribution to rural life in Ireland has been immense, its influence on the development of the infant State, seldom less than profound.

The darker side of the GAA is that it is perceived by some in the north as a sectarian organisation and by others as a divisive influence south of the border. Despite occasional soundings to the contrary, the GAA shows no willingness, as yet, to relax its ban on members of the RUC or British Army attending or playing their games.

More pertinent for many in the Republic is the organisation's trenchant opposition to anything approaching harmony with either of the other two big players in Irish sport - the Football Association of Ireland and the Irish Rugby Football Union.

Enshrined in their rules is one, 42 (b), which reads: "Grounds controlled by Association units shall not be used or permitted to be used for horse racing, greyhound racing or for field sports, other those sanctioned by Central Council."

The IRFU, with plans for a new modernised stadium at Lansdowne Road, may yet find themselves accommodated by the GAA if that operation entails, as it surely will, their seeking an alternative venue in Dublin for their international games while work on the project is in progress.

The FAI, on the other hand, may well find themselves with a much bleaker choice at that time - whether to play their home international games at one of the small club grounds in Dublin or else, shift them to England.

That is the depth of the animosity which exists between the two bodies. The Government will now be seen to legitimise it by this extraordinary gesture of support for Croke Park.

Historically, the GAA's antagonism is based on the allegation that the FAI is a partitionist organisation and as the self-appointed custodians of Irish nationalism, they (the GAA) should never allow the FAI to forget it.

In doing so, they conveniently overlook the fact no sporting organisation mirrors the political evolutions in this country in the 20th century more accurately than the FAI. It was precisely because of their sense of nationalism, that they seceded from the Belfast-based Irish Football Association within weeks of the Declaration of Independence in 1921. They demonstrated their commitment to the State again in 1948 with their decision to debar southern players from representing Northern Ireland, after John A Costello had taken the country out of the old British Commonwealth.

The GAA are correct when they say that if the FAI lacked the husbandry to put its house in order and build its own stadium at some point in its 75-year history, it ought to be no concern of theirs.

Equally valid was their oft-expressed sentiment that as the sole owners of the stadium, they had the right to hire it out to whoever they chose. Diverse groupings from American football teams to rock bands were given the opportunity of availing of that option - but never the "foreign" sports of soccer, rugby and hockey.

In spite of enjoying some of the most lucrative sponsorship deals in Irish sport and generating huge money through gates receipts, the GAA still saw fit to seek and obtain £26 million of public money over the last number of years.

The belief of many, however, is that there is a price to be paid for that preferential treatment - and it should include a public statement that they are now ready to embrace the realities of Irish life in the closing years of the millennium. One of those realities is that grant aid on this scale entitles those in charge of the public purse to have an input into decisions about the way the facility at Jones's Road is used.

That, almost certainly, would be resented by the GAA and it begs the question - why wasn't this kind of funding made available to start work on the construction of a national sports centre for use by all sporting organisations?

Over the years, politicians of different shades have paid lip service to the concept of a national stadium without ever providing the resources for it. Ironically, when substantial funding is made available to sport for the first time, it goes to what many perceive as a separatist organisation.

Unlike all his predecessors as Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, reared within 200 yards of Tolka Park and less than a mile from Croke Park, has been seen to encourage sport by his presence at a large number of events around the country.

Given that unique sense of involvement, it would be highly ironic if he was now viewed as presiding over a Government which, for whatever reason, has chosen to align itself with the narrow perspectives of the GAA.