Former Tánaiste Mary Coughlan was last night elected as the new chairperson of the Donegal GAA County Board.
She is the first woman to hold the role and was elected unopposed at the board's annual convention in Ballybofey, taking over from outgoing chairman Fergus McGee.
Ms Coughlan served as Fianna Fáil TD for the Donegal South West constituency from 1987 to 2011 and was Tánaiste from 2008 to 2011. She held a number of different ministerial roles during her political career.
She has had a long association with the GAA and since leaving politics she has been Secretary of St Naul's GAA club in Donegal.
Ms Coughlan said she was absolutely honoured and delighted to be selected by convention and said the big thing now is to drive on Donegal GAA and get everyone working together.
She said she has great hope and aspirations for the county in all aspects of the GAA - hurling, football, handball and Scór.
After a tumultuous year in the organisation in the county, Ms Coughlan said that great work was done by the outgoing chairman, new strategies have been developed from a governance and financial perspective.
Ms Coughlan said they have worked with Croke Park on the plan for the county and she wants to bring that to finality and also get the academy back up working as soon as possible.
She said she hopes that any rancour that was there before will be gone.
"The concentration now will be on running this organisation to the best of our ability and having more success on the field, " Ms Coughlan said, while also emphasising that she wanted to see the feel-good factor and enjoyment back in the GAA in Donegal.
Ms Coughlan is one of five women elected to the Donegal County Board, a record for the county.
She said this is hugely important: "Women are 50% of the population and many are the backbone of the GAA."
She said she wanted to encourage more women and young people to get involved in the GAA at club and national level.
"There is room for everyone in the GAA", she said, "you don't have to be a player, there are lots of different things you can do."
