'We stand for something better'

“We don’t belong to an organisation like Allianz” was the overriding message when leading ‘Drop Allianz’ campaigners gathered for a public meeting at Bailieborough Shamrocks GAA grounds on Friday night.

It was Meath’s Colm O’Rourke who made the statement, while other panel members including Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh, Dr David Hickey, Colm McAlarney and Eugene McKenna, supported it.

Around sixty people from clubs in counties Cavan and Meath gathered at the event, while there were also campaign supporters present from surrounding counties.

Information supporting the campaign largely focused on The Report of the Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, which was issued in June last year, and stated that global insurance companies, including Allianz ‘invest large sums in shares and bonds implicated in the occupation and genocide’.

Allianz Ireland has “wholly rejected” the report’s findings in multiple responses to Celt queries and urged the campaigners to contact them directly (see statement below).

For over 30 years, Allianz has sponsored the Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues, making it one of Ireland’s longest running sports sponsorships. Last year, it renewed its sponsorship until 2030.

However, in light of the publication of the UN report, national campaigns have called upon the GAA to allow clubs to have their say as to whether Allianz should be retained or dropped as a sponsor. The Cavan ‘Drop Allianz’ campaign started around one month ago and is consulting all local clubs regarding their position on Allianz sponsorship before presenting to the Cavan county board.

Nodlaig said that Allianz are “undermining” Francesca Albanese and the office of the United Nations in their response, and a statement in which the company says “Allianz Ireland does not hold Israeli government bonds” was viewed as “propaganda” by Nodlaig.

“When Allianz Ireland say they are a separate entity, they’re not because they are owned by the parent company and secondly, when it comes to human rights, they are absolutely bound by the Allianz group.”

She said if Allianz in Ireland “have an issue” with what is presented in the report, they can “take it up with the UN”.

So far, 11 counties have passed motions asking Croke Park to debate the issue of Allianz as sponsor of the GAA, and campaign members are hoping to open up the conversation in Cavan, Monaghan and Meath.

Former Meath senior football manager Colm O’Rourke, who is also a columnist with the Irish Independent, got involved with the campaign after reading Ms Albanese’s report.

“When I read that report, it did really make my blood boil,” he said.

“Russia was thrown out of all international competitions by FIFA and UEFA. What difference is there in the value of a Palestinian life and a Ukrainian life? Israel still participates in international soccer competitions.”

Since October 7, 2023, more than 73,669 Palestinian fatalities have been reported across Gaza, by the Ministry of Health there. Among them, at least 21,280 children have been killed.

“Their country has been obliterated,” Colm continued.

“This is the attempt to erase the likelihood of a Palestinian state,” he believes.

He described the GAA as a “wonderful organisation” of people, families and communities who “look out for each other”.

Referring to the GAA’s slogan ‘where we all belong’ alongside the sign of Allianz outside Croke Park, Colm added: “We stand for something better.”

He called upon those gathered to go back to their clubs and to try and get “momentum going” on the issue.

Tyrone’s county board have officially backed the campaign, and for those wondering “what can I do?” Eugene McKenna answered the question.

“Once you raise it [Drop Allianz] within your clubs, and vote to have this reopened, you’ve done your bit. That’s your little bit, but it’s not unimportant.”

He said this gives your county board the mandate to speak for you but also the “obligation” of taking club concerns to a higher level.

He looked around the impressive Bailieborough Shamrock’s GAA club room and grounds.

“This is voluntary, people built this themselves,” he said.

“The story is we can’t disassociate ourselves from Allianz. Of course we can,” he countered, adding: “We don’t want it [their sponsorship]; we don’t need it.

“Our GAA is where we belong. If you belong somewhere you expect to be able to talk, you expect your voice to be heard and you expect people in that organisation to listen to you.

“The biggest mistake any of us can make is to do nothing on the basis that we can’t do a lot. Everybody here can do a wee bit, so let’s go!”

Meanwhile, Derry’s Colm McAlarney described the sponsorship as a “betrayal on all of us”.

“The GAA hierarchy have lost their soul and their hearts,” he said.

Former Dublin GAA star David Hickey described the Allianz sponsorship as “the last straw”.

“These guys are funding and profiting from a genocide, and they have no place on the playing fields of our young people in this country. We are fighting for our soul as the GAA and also for Ireland in this fight and we cannot afford to lose it.”

Allianz plc is a separate entity – statement

Allianz plc has insisted that it is a separate Irish legal entity, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

“It does not hold Israeli government bonds, has no investments in Israel or the Middle East, and does not underwrite business there,” a spokesperson told The Anglo-Celt on Tuesday following the public meeting in Bailieborough at the weekend.

In relation to sovereign bond holdings elsewhere within the Allianz Group, the spokesperson said they should “not be misrepresented” as direct financing of a military operation.

They point to more information on Government bonds and the reasons for holding them on their website.

The spokesperson further pointed to a more detailed piece on its website ‘The facts about Allianz and the Middle East Conflict’.