In February of this year, Laois GAA and senior football manager Justin McNulty found themselves in the middle of a mad political controversy. We attempted to make sense of the situation at the time – and as it transpired McNulty attended the Laois match, was briefly suspended from the SDLP but has since returned to the party fold. After a positive year as Laois manager, he is now preparing for the 2025 season.
It’s not too often that the intricate workings of Northern Ireland politics and those of Laois GAA cross over with each other.
But that’s precisely what is happening this weekend with the return of the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast, of which Laois football manager Justin McNulty is a member.
The short-term crux of the issue is that Stormont, the iconic location where the assembly is based, is set to sit at lunch time on Saturday for the first time in two years. And the Laois footballers are playing Wexford, in Wexford, at 6pm in a crucial National Football League game.
McNulty, by rights, should be at both. You can be sure that the procedures in Stormont won’t be done and dusted quickly as they elect a new Executive.
It’s over 200 miles and about three and a half hours by road from Belfast to Wexford. Doing it in a car won’t be feasible. Even getting a helicopter would be tight.
The whole situation is hugely unfortunate for McNulty and for the Laois senior football team. Had he been manager of Laois in 2022 and 2023, the Assembly wouldn’t have sat once.
We’ll try give some context and background.
McNulty is an MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) for the Newry and Armagh District for the SDLP party, one of eight representatives they have out of the 90 seats across 18 districts.
His role is largely similar to that of a TD. His social media accounts detail local issues – ranging from education to health and more day-to-day concerns of his constituents like electricity faults and weather warnings.
The SDLP stands for the Social Democratic and Labour Party, a centre left party who believe that Northern Ireland should leave the United Kingdom and join the Republic.
For a long number of years the SDLP were the biggest nationalist party in Northern Ireland, though they have lost ground over the last couple of decades to the more republican Sinn Féin.
The Northern Ireland Assembly was established after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 as a devolved government within the six counties. Its role is similar to the Dáil, where it has power to legislate in a range of areas in Northern Ireland.
Unlike the Dáil, however, it has a power-sharing arrangement between the very varied political parties – DUP, UUP, Sinn Féin, SDLP and Alliance.
It means that all those parties have representation on the Northern Ireland Executive, which is the equivalent of the Government cabinet with its various ministers.
But it’s not as straight forward as that. The Assembly has had a number of periods where it hasn’t sat at all, the most recent one due to a DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) boycott.
That stretched back to early 2022. But the wider DUP party voted on Monday of this week to end that and it has paved the way for the Assembly to return this Saturday at 1pm where they go through the process of electing the various positions.
Which brings us to where Laois GAA and McNulty have a headache – and McNulty’s one is arguably the bigger of the two.
An All Ireland winner with Armagh in 2002, he managed Laois from 2011 to 2013, a period of relative success where the county was promoted to Division 1 in his first season and reached an All Ireland quarter-final in his second.
After his reign ended however, his football commitments took a back seat to his political ones. He was duly comfortably elected as an MLA in 2016 and again in 2017 and 2022.
His football managerial days seemed very much in the past until he answered the call from Laois last winter to return as senior manager.
And if the appointment raised eyebrows in Laois, it certainly did in political circles in Northern Ireland.
McNulty has insisted all along that the two roles are compatible. The SDLP leadership have maintained that they aren’t.
Last November, the Belfast Telegraph reported that “the SDLP has signalled it is prepared to allow Justin McNulty to work as Laois GAA football manager while the Assembly is not sitting”.
“However, the party has indicated that the Newry and South Down MLA will have to choose between his new job and his Stormont role when devolution returns”.
“Politicians will be required to be available for late night sittings to deal with the multiple crises facing public services. This is the unanimous view of the SDLP parliamentary group,” added an SDLP spokesperson at the time.
The Belfast Telegraph went on to report that the SDLP had advised McNulty to resign but that he had refused to do so. It was also reported that if McNulty was removed from the SDLP he’d have remained as an independent MLA.
McNulty said at the time that he was “determined” to represent the people of Newry and Armagh.
“I have done that from day one, and I am determined to continue doing so. I remain steadfast in that position.”
When it’s political it’s multi-layered and for those us in this part of the country, attempting to follow a Northern Ireland story, even more so.
McNulty is highly regarded in his role and has deep connections with the SDLP party. The position he now holds in Newry and South Armagh, representing the SDLP, was once held by the legendary Seamus Mallon, a long-time family friend of the McNultys.
But the SDLP of today are holding firm on their status.
His party leader Matthew O’Toole was pressed on the issue on the BBC’s The View programme on Thursday night.
“The role of an MLA is a full time one.”@MatthewOToole2 tells @MarkCarruthers7 that the SDLP are speaking to MLA @JustinMcNu1ty about his @officialgaa coaching role… pic.twitter.com/XDQGJhPoSR
— BBC The View (@bbctheview) February 1, 2024
“Our position hasn’t changed on this,” said O’Toole.
“We made public statements about this a number of months ago. We are engaged in a process with Justin to understand and to process and move this forward.
“I’m not going to say any more on it at this point but I think it’s right that we continue to talk to him and we will be talking to him about his responsibilities and how they fit.
“It is clear the role of an MLA is a full-time job and it is clear that the first day is on Saturday and we intend on being there.
“Justin works very hard as an MLA. He cares passionately about South Armagh.
“He has taken up a role with the GAA but we are engaged in a process to discuss with Justin about those two roles but it remains clear, and we have been clear in the past, that the role of an MLA is a full-time one.”
Though they haven’t said anything publicly, Laois GAA will not want to lose McNulty who has made a good start in the role. Reports from the camp have been nothing but positive.
Up to now his political role hasn’t visibly interfered with his football one. If that changes, and Laois’s results are poor, either coincidentally or as a consequence, then the picture for Laois GAA changes too.
McNulty was present at Laois’s training sessions during the week but should he miss the game on Saturday in Wexford, the managerial duties would likely fall to either of his selectors/coaches, Ross Munnelly or Diarmuid Carroll.
Neither McNulty nor Laois GAA have made any public statement on the issue yet.
Incidentally, the Wexford team is managed by John Hegarty, who is a Fine Gael councillor and the current chairman of Wexford County Council.
In football and politics, nothing is ever straight forward.
SEE ALSO – Check out all our top stories from our 2024 Remembered series here
