Following yesterday’s monthly meeting of Meath County Council, Cllr. Emer Tóibín, contacted Meath Live to express her views on the motion she put forward, calling on the Ladies Gaelic Football Association to reverse its policy on transgenderism proved highly controversial at a meeting of Meath County Council. The motion was defeated by 15 votes to nine, with one abstention. She did acknowledge all Sinn Fein councillors present supported the motion but issued a rasping comment on Fianna Fail and Fine Gael councillors ”lack of backbone” to stand up as individuals but toed a party line on the vote, she said;
”I am very disappointed that of the 25 cllrs that voted on my motion today at our March full council meeting, calling on MCC to ask the ‘LGFA to reverse its transgender policy, for the sake of the safety of their membership and the sake of fairness on the football field’, all of FF and FG cllrs present voted against the motion. In other words, they support trans-identifying males from the age of 13 playing against young girls and women on the football pitch. On an issue as serious as fairness and safety in women’s sport. it’s disappointing but not surprising that all of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors at the meeting were unwilling to take a stand, even when common sense and safeguarding are at stake.
They towed the party line despite many of their own daughters, nieces, neighbours and friends are completely is opposition to this policy which was endorsed primarily in secrecy by the LGFA in February 2023.
First out of the traps was Fine Gael’s Maria Murphy, chair of Meath Women’s Caucus, a group essentially founded to promote women and women’s rights. Her argument was based on the premise that the rights of girls and women to safety and fairness in sport are not in question here. Her colleague Sarah O’Reilly dismissed the spirit the motion and stated it should not even be up for discussion in the council chamber.
Yet I have had 100s of constituents raise this issue with me over the last 18 months and the LGFA has shown no appetite to engage. Not with their members, their coaches, club chairs or volunteers. The shutters have been down since day 1. They fail to acknowledge emails or letters and refuse all meeting requests.
I have spoken on the QT to some councillors who’ve admitted to me that the ‘woke thing’ has gone way too far and they do not approve of this policy. Yet, when the time came to take a stand, they ran for cover. This, in my view, is wrong and a slap in the face of those who voted for them. They lack the backbone to articulate their convictions and it begs the question, why go into politics if at the lowest level, you cannot do the right thing and blithely ignore the science, common sense and best practice in sport.
It should not take courage to say girls and women should be protected on and off the pitch. How far has FF and FG has come and deviated from their core vote and principles. When push comes to shove, too many politicians would rather toe the party line than stand up for what’s right. They’re afraid of backlash, even when the issue is as clear-cut as fairness and safety for women in sport.
It’s shocking that they won’t even acknowledge the concerns of female athletes and their families.”
