Mr. John Devaney:

The biggest challenge is recruitment of referees. The question is why someone would want to be a referee in some respects. About 35% of GAA match officials also cover ladies' football and camogie as well. We find in our own county that some referees prefer that, as there is less likelihood of receiving the same type of abuse in ladies' sports as they would in men's Gaelic football or hurling. All of those things are related to one another. Trying to bring about a bigger pool of referees relates to the fact that we still have a culture within our sports whereby some things are seen by some as being acceptable when they should not be. Going forward in integration, we have not properly addressed this as yet because the three organisations have had their challenges to get to this particular point. We are at the stage now where we are addressing some specifics and refereeing will be one of them.

Part of this will be making sure the standards and numbers will be there in all of the codes. It will also be about enhancing what we do and what we have in terms of refereeing, and about offering a better opportunity to people to come into the role of being match officials.