Minister for Sport Patrick O'Donovan says he doesn't expect there to be a long delay to the integration of all three Gaelic games bodies in the wake of Mary McAleese's resignation from the integration committee earlier this week.
McAleese stepped away as the chairperson of the committee on Tuesday, a move which O'Donovan said was "really disappointing."
The Minister met separately McAleese, as well as representatives from the GAA, the LGFA and the Camogie Association on Wednesday to get a sense of where the process was at, and he said that he expects integration to happen sooner rather than later.
"It was about a half an hour each and I got a fairly good insight as to where we are by way of a process," he said on RTÉ's Today with David McCullagh programme.
"This is the largest change in Gaelic Games administration since the foundation of the GAA in Hayes Hotel in 1884. The one thing is all of the bodies are signed up to it.
"I asked a very straight question of all three of them yesterday - 'are you signed up to integration, a fully integrated single Gaelic Games organisation?'
"And all three said 'yes'."
Special Congresses of the three Gaelic games bodies, which were planned for October, will not take place as final details around integration remain to be worked out.
Although O'Donovan wouldn't be drawn into naming a month, he said he did expect those to take place during 2027, where each organisation would vote to fully back the planned amalgamation proposal.
"The LGFA and the Camogie Association made very simple points to me yesterday, which was we're essentially voting to extinguish ourselves," O'Donovan added.
"This is an existential issue for them. They will no longer exist.
"So whatever new organisation comes forward, it has to meet the cultural needs and the sporting needs of the Camogie Association and the LGFA.
"In other words, it has to be right for them as well, because they will no longer exist.
"I asked Ard Stiúrthóir of the GAA, Tom Ryan, yesterday, if during the year 2027, will we have a design of a legal structure that can be put to the three Congresses to be voted on? He said, yes, he was confident of that.
"That is something that gives (me) a huge amount of confidence and hope. All three organisations said to me yesterday that we're not actually far away from being able to put forward motions to the Congresses.
"Ultimately, the last thing any of the organisations would want is if you put forward a motion to three Congresses and one voted down, then that sets the whole thing back maybe years.
"That'd be disastrous."
Asked about Mary McAleese's comments on Inside Sport that that there are some people in the GAA who are not entirely happy about the idea of including women in decision making roles, Minister O'Donovan said: "There are existing avenues where people are making substantial progress but more needs to be done and the GAA recognises that."
"This is entirely a matter for them, this is not a matter for Government."
The three Gaelic games bodies have been requested to provide the Government with quarterly updates on their progress, following the events of this week.
