THE INTERNATIONAL Rules series is set to resume after Central Council yesterday gave the go-ahead for the GAA to continue discussions with the AFL with a view "to re-establishing the series".

The meeting also unanimously endorsed the document finalising details of the proposed Government awards scheme for intercounty players, which is to be debated at next month's congress.

Talks between the GAA, represented by president Nickey Brennan, head of games Pat Daly and former Ireland captain and selector Anthony Tohill, and their Australian counterparts last month resulted in a schedule of proposals to crack down on the problem of indiscipline, which had flared up in the last two series in 2005 and '06, including the carry-over of suspensions into the respective domestic competitions.

Counties were asked to debate the proposals and yesterday's decision was taken by a clear majority with just eight counties believed to have voted against.

The decision to endorse the players' awards scheme - full details of which will be made clear at a press briefing this morning - was welcomed by the Gaelic Players Association in a statement that reiterated the GPA's "commitment to the maintenance of the GAA's amateur status and acknowledges that the schemes do not undermine that status".

Under the scheme, funding will be made available to intercounty players on the basis of reimbursing expenses for the "additional costs associated with inter-county participation".

Kildare football manager Kieran McGeeney insists pay-for-play will never become a reality in the GAA because it is unfeasible.

"Pay-for-play is not something that can exist in this country," he said during an interview on Kildare radio station Kfm on Sunday. "We have a very small population, our county boards are stretched as is it.

"It's not something that is on the cards or I can see ever being on the cards"