Tyrone footballer Conor Meyler has outlined five recommendations he believes should be implemented as part of the potential merger between the GAA, Camogie Association and Ladies Gaelic Football Association.
Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese has been chairing the meetings of the Steering Group on Integration between the three bodies and talks have been aimed at moving towards a 'one association' model.
Meyler has chosen to focus on the topic of integration of Gaelic games as part of his PhD research at the Technological University of the Shannon.
Together with Dr Kate Liston of Ulster University and Dr Aoife Lane of TUS, a policy review on the subject will be published on Wednesday and speaking to RTÉ Sport's Darren Frehill, Meyler discussed the findings they had made in their research.
"From the research, we were able to develop five key recommendations," he said.
"The first being to plan for the process, so to plan throughout the pre-merger, the transition and post-merger phase and to understand and accept the fact that if we want an integration that's underpinned by equality then it's going to take time.
"The second was to have guiding principals and values. Principles such as strategic thinking, strong leadership - transformational leadership - and also clear communication from the bottom up and from the top down.
"(Thirdly), to prioritise female representation like Golf Ireland did so well. They brought in a quota system from the start, 30/30/40, to allow for a female voice throughout and to give them a position in decision-making.
"The next one is to have a funding model. So a funding model based on equality which is going to allow us to close the gap or to bridge it, as such, between the investment in male players and female players.
"And the final one was to build a new organisation. The research has shown us that if want an organisation that's underpinned by equality, then we're probably going to have to develop a new organisation."
Dr Lane, a member of the SHE Research Group at TUS, explained that the policy review lifted the lid on how getting to the end goal of full integration is a complicated process that ultimately should not be daunting.
"It might seem it's a simple process that we just become one association for Gaelic games but I think what we've uncovered is it's a little bit more complex than that," she said.
"Someone might read this and think, 'God, there's an awful lot of change here' and they might get deterred by that and maybe afraid of it.
"The goal is one association built on the principal of equality. The important things will stay the same. We'll still be playing our games, the clubs will still be the focal point of everything in the organisation.
"We'll still need coaches, we'll still need referees and still have these unbelievable inter-county games and we really just need to keep that in mind.
"Our next step is to really look at the people, at the grassroots in our counties, listen to them, hear from them, warts and all - what are the fears around integration, what are the opportunities around integration? I think clubs are absolute game-changers here."
Meyler, who has been in touch with the three organisations, said that research shows that it's "not necessarily going to be a merger of equals" because of the varying size, scale and financial disparity between the three existing bodies.
He also warned of the potential pitfalls that can be present in a merger process.
"What we've seen from the research is that females can be marginalised through an integration or a merger or a coming together," he said.
But the three organisations coming together is one he feels will be for the betterment of all stakeholders.
"I think it's been an eye-opener for me and from discussing the project and the research with other people, I think there's a lack of awareness as to where we're really at with integration or what it might actually look like, or even further (to) some of the inequalities that actually exist in Gaelic games," he said.
"For me we've got the greatest game in the world but yet we're still operating off different organisations based on gender, which in today's society is wrong, for me, and we're in a position now where we can change that and a move to have one association for all for the better."
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