‘Drop Allianz now’ – Mayo protesters call on GAA to end sponsorship

The Mayo branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) held a protest outside MacHale Park on Sunday, February 1, ahead of the Allianz National Football League fixture between Mayo and Dublin.

Protesters gathered to call on the GAA to end its sponsorship relationship with Allianz, citing the company’s involvement and its financial links to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

The Mayo IPSC organised the protest to raise awareness among GAA supporters about Allianz’s role as title sponsor of the National League.

“We’re highlighting why Allianz is in the spotlight at the moment for all the wrong reasons,” said Aoife Durkan of the Mayo branch of the IPSC.

“We’re calling on the GAA to drop Allianz. Allianz were complicit in the Holocaust, and now they have been found to be complicit in and profiting from the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

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“The GAA is a fantastic organisation developed from the grassroots up. Its ethos and values are rooted in community, integrity, respect, and justice — all completely at odds with sponsorship linked to genocide,” she said.

She referenced the recent UN report From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, which identifies corporate entities profiting from Israel’s actions in Gaza.

“The damning evidence in that report obliges the GAA, as a corporate entity, to promptly cease all business activities contributing to international crimes against the Palestinian people,” she said.

Protesters also highlighted the impact of the genocide on children.

“The GAA does so much for children throughout this country, yet we think of the tens of thousands of children who have been killed in Gaza,” Ms Durkan said. “Just yesterday, there were reports of 26 people killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza -  six of them children. There should not exist a hint of any link between the GAA and the appalling human rights abuses currently being inflicted on the Palestinian people.”

The Mayo branch of the IPSC says it will continue to protest and raise the issue with GAA supporters and officials until Allianz is dropped as a sponsor.

In a statement issued to The Mayo News today, Allianz plc (Ireland) has said it is not the largest private investor in Israeli government bonds. It also said Allianz plc (Ireland) has not engaged in, nor profited from, any trade related to the Israel–Palestine conflict and Allianz plc does not hold the government bonds referenced in the UN report cited by others.