The Club Players Association motion to provide greater transparency in voting at GAA congress was heavily defeated on Saturday afternoon by delegates. Drafted to ensure that all votes at congress be recorded and delegates held accountable, motion 22 attracted just 44 votes or 17 per cent.
Proposed by Wexford's Liam Griffin, who said the intention was that "democracy be done and be seen to be done" and to ensure, "openness, honesty and democracy," the motion was opposed by speakers from Cork, Europe and supported by the GPA, the county players' organisation, whose acting CEO Séamus Hickey said that they wished to place their support on the record.
Cork chair Tracey Kennedy said that to accept the proposal would be to accept a worrying view of the GAA. "This motion suggests that there is something fundamentally wrong at the heart of the association."
Europe delegate Tony Bass expressed concerns that the provision would lead to "vilification and witch hunts" and that the CPA motion could be "a Trojan horse".
Replying to the debate, Griffin reminded congress that “the entire playing body has now said that they want transparency” and asked in summation: “why are we afraid of being honest?”
The 201 votes – or 83 per cent – of delegates who opposed mean that the matter cannot be raised at congress for another three years and it would therefore be 2022 before it could be floated again.
