GAA president Jarlath Burns said the recent debate around Allianz sponsorship of the National Hurling and Football League will be the thing that will cause the most sleepless nights during his tenure. Burns said he is aware that “people have said he has sold out on his principles.” The GAA president was speaking on the bilingual Podcast, “How To Gael,” part five of a six-part series called “How to Unite Ireland?” There have been petitions, protests and calls to end the continued sponsorship deal between German multinational insurance company Allianz and the GAA over recent months. The calls came after it emerged that the UN report published last year found Allianz as being one of several companies “embedded in an economy of genocide” due to its economic links to Israel. An investigation was initiated by the Ethics and Integrity Commission into the GAA’s relationship with Allianz in November, and a month later, the GAA accepted an EIC recommendation to maintain the sponsorship, with the current deal in place until 2030.
Burns said to “How to Gael” that the commission found that ‘‘this company that is the asset management company is nothing to do with us, nothing to do with Allianz Ireland, which is an insurance company, which has always been the message we got from them. We didn’t even know they had this other wing to this company. That’s where we are at the moment and that’s not to say I don’t respect the people who disagree with that.’’
