On Gaelic Games: There was Dessie Farrell on Saturday off to Central Council to put the case for the GAA getting behind the proposal of the Gaelic Players Association for Government-sponsored grants for senior, intercounty players. On the face of it, that looked a straightforward task.

GAA president Seán Kelly had backed the scheme and there had been no high-profile dissent on the matter. But as soon as Farrell saw the morning's Irish Independent he realised that things had become a bit more complicated.

Misgivings on the part of GAA officialdom had been eased into the public arena along with the clear message that the matter would be firmly kicked to touch. So it wasn't too much of a surprise to the GPA chief executive when that is precisely what happened as soon as the players' grants came up on the agenda.

Significantly, it was president-elect Nickey Brennan who took ownership of the issue at Central Council, saying that he would meet the GPA on the subject of player welfare and examine the sports grants proposal. The problem for the GPA is that there'll be no meeting Brennan until he takes office in six weeks' time, however a meeting is scheduled with the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism John O'Donoghue for this day week.

There have been signs that the GPA is perhaps over-estimating the enthusiasm of Government for the payment of these grants, but one thing is certain - without full GAA support, the whole scheme is in trouble. The idea of some sort of payment to intercounty players is one to which the GPA have dedicated a lot of time and effort, from the proposal that they be paid £100 a week during the season in expenses, through early attempts to persuade then Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy to extend a tax break targeted at professional sports people, to the current plan for grants worth up to €2,500.

McCreevy was unequivocal about the tax break - saying at the time that the provision included in the 2002 Finance Bill was purely for professionals. "But there won't be any rebate of tax on the endorsements," he said at the time, "sponsorship, television interviews, or articles that one may write. It's only for direct participation in sport."

Strangely, it was the GAA themselves who took most serious issue with the Government's plans. When the bill was published, an immediate response from then president Seán McCague issued from Croke Park. "Mr McCague stated, however, that he was disappointed that when we had just finished the year of the volunteer, voluntary and amateur sports stars such as GAA players appear to have been discriminated against from a tax concession premise."

Given this enthusiasm for financial recognition of players, the stance taken at last weekend's Central Council meeting was peculiar. It is the GAA's conviction that there is as much chance of the Government paying out these grants as there is of the Ulster Council taking a corporate box at one of next year's soccer internationals. That being the case, the argument goes, the players might turn around and demand Croke Park money, seeing as Central Council had backed the GPA campaign.

Yet, incoming president Nickey Brennan is quite unequivocal on the subject. Four years ago he said: "My views on amateur status are quite clear - I was on the original Amateur Status Committee and I believe our association simply could not afford to pay players at this point in time."

Before the election last April he reiterated that view when asked about pay-for-play: "It's one road we have to avoid because we couldn't support professionalism."

If the official GAA stance on the question of paying players is substantially based on an inability to do so it's perfectly reasonable to support the players' case secure in the knowledge that the money's not there for the association to foot the bill should the campaign fail. Farrell and the GPA believe in the Government bona fides on this and say they have assurances that the cost of the proposed scheme, around €3,500,000 per annum, is not an obstacle, but that the implementation structures were causing concern. Nonetheless, with a proposal in place that established the Irish Sports Council as gatekeepers for the scheme, which includes a template for extending its operation to other amateur sports people, such as boxers, the GPA felt that this concern had been addressed.

Farrell was in positive mood when talking to this newspaper in January and clearly believed that he had the backing of the GAA in pursuing the grants - ". . . essentially everyone involved is in favour of it, and agree that players should be recompensed in some description, given the significant contribution they are making to Irish society."

He did, however, go on to acknowledge what he felt was a change in attitude on the part of the ISC. "The GAA have given the all clear on this. What's ironic in all this is that 12 months ago the Sports Council had a full meeting and were totally in support in the concept of providing these grants. Now there seems to be a problem, so that doesn't add up."

In the same piece, John Treacy, chief executive of the ISC, gave substance to these misgivings. "There have been ongoing discussions with various people," he said, "including ourselves, and that will go on for the moment. But how soon it can be accommodated I just don't know. That's the big marker. There's a bit of discussion to be done yet. And it's still largely a matter for the GAA."

Only three weeks ago, Minister O'Donoghue also sounded less than definite about the proposed scheme. "We have met with him (Farrell) in the past and difficulties have arisen in relation to the question of how the funding would be made available. Anything that would assist GAA players I would be in favour of. The difficulty we would have would be with the mechanism of how this would be done."

Taken in tandem, the views of Treacy and the Minister aren't encouraging and lend weight to the GAA's reading of the situation. But it is a self-fulfilling analysis. Clearly, the association's unwillingness to support the campaign isn't helping. With official support from Croke Park there would be considerably greater pressure on the Government to deliver.

In other words, Central Council's prevarication has let down the players.