Often the background is ignored, just as it was when UCD conducted a survey on our behalf and 75 per cent of the players said they'd like to see the game go semi-professional. You have to view that result against the backdrop of the GAA commercially shutting players out. A quick glance at the Playstation issue, which wasn't about money, demonstrates perfectly how anti-player the commercial department is.

So, in the survey, the players were looking for a gesture rather than saying bluntly they want to go semi-pro, and the Taoiseach's comments need to be viewed in a similar light.

Staying amateur can also incorporate an acknowledgement of players and their contributions on a broad range of levels. For instance we've been lobbying for a number of years for between 1,000 and 2,500, depending on levels, from the government in a sports grant.

Obviously the government acknowledges Irish artists through grants, and they acknowledge other sports people through generous tax breaks, but our lads are caught in the middle. We thought a sports grant would be the way to rectify this and it doesn't interfere with amateur status, which Mr Ahern was discussing. Look at it this way: if a student gets a grant that doesn't make him or her a professional.

In principle the idea of the grant has been well supported so far but we haven't got it through just yet. We've also discussed the plausibility of introducing a social type of contract whereby GAA players would be used to promote government policies such as anti-obesity. We would hope it could come about this season. In principle it's supported by both the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Sport. A while back we held a meeting and received support across the political parties, which is highly unusual.

Unfortunately at that stage the party whip was cracked and we lost the vote narrowly in the Dail. We just need a push to get it over the line.

Some people may think it's strange that the money will come from the government, but do people think it's strange that it's the taxpayer funding the generous tax breaks for professional sports people? I don't begrudge them that, I just think that, like the artists, people realise GAA players make an important contribution to Irish society. In fact, I think there would be very widespread public support for it.

But the GAA must play their part too. In 10 years Croke Park will be paid off, you're talking about 150 to 200 million euro a year passing through the GAA, the stadiums around the country will be long completed, and I'd like to know who is thinking that far down the line and are they aware of the consequences of continually shutting players out?

The GAA need to acknowledge the rights of players.

The IRFU and FAI acknowledge image rights, but in the GAA that's unheard of and it's something we need rectified in the very short term.

We'd like to see the players treated like other sporting organisations treat their players and that just isn't happening at the moment. We've a court case pending on the issue and the outcome of that will obviously have a bearing on the next GAA move but I think if we can establish a precedent under Irish law that would put us in good shape in that regard and help us move forward.