Opposition to GAA Allianz links from teachers and Irish language community
More anti-Allianz motions are set to come before annual conferences, including the major Irish teaching union and the pre-eminent Irish language body.INTO, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, will have motions from a number of Cumann na mBunscol groups, calling for schools to distance themselves from the German insurance giant.Allianz is the named sponsor of Cumann na mBunscol, the organisation which has promoted Gaelic games in primary schools for more than half a century.Conradh na Gaeilge, whose annual conference is scheduled to take place in Belfast on Saturday February 21, will also hear a motion calling on the GAA to end its links with Allianz due to the latter’s financial connections with the Israeli government.That CnaG motion emanates from Laochra Loch Lao, the Irish language GAA club based in west Belfast, which is also a branch of the Irish language organisation.Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, President of the Irish language body Conradh na Gaeilge. CnaG President Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, a member of Laochra Loch Lao, explained:“The motion hasn’t been debated or voted on yet but…is explicitly calling on us to condemn the GAA for their refusal to end their partnership and their sponsorship with Allianz.“We have a historic link with the GAA going back. GAA was established just a few years before us. There is a strong bond.”The membership crossover with the GAA has led to this action, Mr Mac Giolla Bhéin says:“In civic society in general, there’s been great kind of unease and distress about what’s been taking place in Palestine.“There’s a feeling that we can’t sit on the sidelines in this debate, that this is something that’s ongoing.A protest against GAA sponsor Allianz during half time of Derry v Tyrone in the National Football League Div 2 match played at Celtic Park, Derry on Saturday 31st of January 2026. PICTURE: MARGARET MCLAUGHLIN (MARGARET MCLAUGHLIN COPYRIGHT / ) “Our members are reflecting some of the really vocal opposition you’re seeing at games within the GAA. We’ve noticed that in Antrim, Tyrone, Derry, Down games recently, and other places.”Conradh na Gaeilge has an ongoing relationship with the GAA, says Mac Giolla Bhéin: “We advise them on their Irish language policy, they have a sub-committee which is looking at the Irish language.“They have an Irish language officer employed in Croke Park, someone whom we work closely with, and we help around that.“We would advise, engage, and liaise with them on all issues in relation to the Irish language when there are events happening for the GAA.”The INTO conference at the ICC in Belfast starting on Friday March 6, will also hear motions opposed to Allianz’s participation in schools.Teacher, GAA committee member, and politician Gemma Brolly.
PICTURE: AONTÚ Gemma Brolly, who is a teacher at Naomh Brid/ St Brigid’s, a bilingual teaching unit at Tirkane, Maghera in south Derry, commented:“We’re asking schools to distance themselves from anything to do with Allianz, basically quite similar to what you see happening at the minute in the GAA.“We’re also asking schools to look at the projects and the things that are coming in to school and consider that as well, just in line with the BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] movement.”Both Cumann na mBunscol and Conradh na Gaeilge have passed motions in recent years backing the BDS movement, aimed at hitting the Israeli government financially.The INTO conference does not take place until early March, also in Belfast, after the GAA’s Annual Congress at the end of this month.However, Mrs Brolly says that many still want their voices to be heard on this matter: “Due to the BDS movement, we don’t go to McDonald’s, there’s quite a few places boycoctted - we can’t do everything, but we can all do something.“I’m a teacher as well, and that’s where that’s coming from. There’s no point in just complaining, we have to take some kind of action.”Brolly herself is a politician, deputy leader of Aontu, but says “this is very much coming from my role as a teacher, as a parent, and as a GAA committee member [at Ballerin in north Derry.”
