Outgoing GAA President John Horan has explained why inter-county hurling and football had their level 5 exemption removed.
He's told Congress it was because professional sports are able to operate in a bubble environment with smaller playing numbers than GAA.
Horan, who hands over the reins to Larry McCarthy this afternoon, added that the GAA's COVID-19 committee are "quite happy" that games aren't taking place at the moment.
“I did ask the minister for an explanation," he said when asked about the exemption by former president Sean Kelly.
"I put this in the public domain. He said at the time it was professional sports that could operate in a bubble environment and it was felt that we would be more challenged in that.
“If you take it in the context of rugby, the four provincial teams which make up the international team would probably be about 250 players and the League of Ireland would have similarly low numbers. Our multiples would be up around 20 times that.
“There’s no loss of our standing with the Government in terms of Sport Ireland, the Government or anything like that. It was purely an operational decision made on the basis of where we are as a country in the pandemic. We have no need to have any concern.
“We’re still regarded and I’ll be quite honest with you, even if I do say so myself on behalf of the GAA, I think we outshone every sporting organisation in the country in the last 12 months so I would have no concerns of that. I think it’s a bit of a red herring and it’s been stirred up somewhat by intercounty managers.”
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