The IRFU are a very credible people, particularly their chief executive Phillip Browne who has given us a guarantee, and it is minute-ed, that the IRFU will not push on and not officially look for any ground outside of Croke Park.

I have great respect for him having negotiated with him and I know this is not driven by him. Instead sections of the media and a few loose cannons within the IRFU are to blame. But regardless of that, there is talk and there is pressure. The people who voted against the opening of Croke Park warned us that this would happen. Let it be known that I was not one, on the grounds that we would be lambasted if we said no. But others said the pressure to open our grounds would come sooner rather than later and they have been proven right. If people had known this was going to happen, Croke Park would not have been opened in the first place.

It can never go beyond Croke Park because the the next thing, we would have a request from a club team to use a GAA field. Then the floodgates would open. We'd find ourselves with rugby and soccer games taking place on GAA pitches in the current weather conditions. When it comes to spring our own fields would be virtually unplayable.

That should be clear to everyone but the GAA is getting the short end of the stick.

People need to see what is going on. If you equate all this to two farmers, one who farms well, the other who lives the high life and goes to the Galway Races and Cheltenham.

Then come the winter he asks the good farmer to house his stock while he's gone. It's as simple as that. But we in the GAA seem to be the whipping boys. I don't know whether it's an element of jealousy but I think it is moreso we don't reply. I think the GAA should stand up for itself more. Most of the time it's like a storm and we just keep our heads down and let it blow over. We need to do that differently because after all we are the amateur organisation doing pros a favour.

What some people are again saying is that we are not serving the national interest.

Sound familiar? But I don't think teams like Munster need to go abroad. They should ask around amongst themselves because someone there must have the keys to Lansdowne Road. And if the key is lost I'm sure there would be a good locksmith out there who could help.

Then we could have another celebration about the closing of Lansdowne Road. They seem to like them because we have had a circus about it. The last schools' final, the last club final, the last rugby, the last soccer. . . What are we celebrating but failure? We are celebrating a ground that has proved to be inadequate and we'll probably have the same down in Thomond. We've seen GAA grounds being closed for revamping like Semple Stadium and we only had the last man out of the door closing the gate behind him. Croke Park was developed without ever being closed. We had All Irelands when we only had a crowd on one side and very loyal people who had been at finals all their lives were forced to be at home but they understood what was happening and they didn't grumble.

Maybe rugby or soccer people should get in our planners and we'd show them how to do this thing with less disruption because it's hardly necessary to close Thomond, it's just another agenda to back us in to a corner. I think it's more than a coincidence that both Lansdowne Road and Thomond Park are closed at the one time. Some people within the rugby fraternity are using this as a lever to force our hand. Might I qualify that by saying not the hierarchy within the IRFU.

But we are difficult people to back into a corner and we are at our most dangerous when we are in that corner.

Seán Fogarty is chairperson of the GAA Munster Council