Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise a matter of national interest that greatly concerns me. The GAA does so much good in the country and it is part of the social fabric that makes Ireland unique. I am surprised by a diktat issued by GAA headquarters in recent weeks. They wrote to county boards and asked them to reduce the minute's silence to 20 seconds silence. It is one of the most bizarre requests I have heard of in quite a while. The GAA is very much a roots up operation as opposed to a branch down operation and I was disappointed to hear about this coming from headquarters. I was delighted that when this proposal came before the delegates of the Westmeath County Board, there were strong voices in opposition. Billy Foley and others told those in the higher echelons that Westmeath would not carry out this diktat. A minute's silence does not happen too often. Those who have played for the county or have been heavily associated with the county set up are acknowledged with a minute's silence before a game if they died recently. It is the very least we could do for people who have borne colours for the GAA, filled cars with kids, marked pitches and travelled the length and breadth of the country to facilitate games for nothing. It is a poor day if we cannot even given them one minute to say, "Farewell".