The Laois man vowed to eliminate the 'tiny minority' of abuse which exists in Gaelic Games.

"We want to eradicate it by giving appropriate penalties to people who continue to engage in abuse," he said.

"We will do it calmly and we will talk to the players and to our own officials and we will come up with a motion to outlaw all forms of abuse by next Congress."

O'Neill added: "We condemn any form of abuse. I said that I wanted the debate widened, that I didn't want it just limited to one form of abuse. I want abuse cut out totally.

"This is a tiny minority - the vast majority of Irish people conduct their daily lives without abusing one another, and it's similar in Gaelic Games.

"We have had a couple of instances where allegations have been made. It's a tiny, tiny percentage.

"Even one is too many and I want to eradicate it completely and I will be working between now and Easter to make sure we have all our homework done so we can do that."

O'Neill hopes that the GAA will be a stronger organisation after the Ulster Council makes its decision.

"It doesn't blight the season. One person is accused of something and it will be handled by Ulster GAA and the GAA will come out stronger from it and hopefully we will put an end to any form of abuse including racism and sectarianism, or any sort of abuse that happens on the field.

"There is no place for it, there is no room for it. We don't want it and quite frankly my attitude is that for anyone that wants to go and abuse another person - 'Please go and find another sport'."

O'Neill says that procedure will be followed in the case of Cunningham, just as is done with similar issues.

"This matter has not been concluded, everyone is entitled to due process," he explained.

"It's a report and an allegation so far and if it turns out to be anything else we will deal with it, but I don't want to get involved in judging someone unfairly before due process has been observed.

"We'll observe due process and the Ulster Council will do this efficiently and fairly as they do all of their work and we will accept their findings and they will give appropriate penalties."

Initiatives such as, 'Give Respect, Get Respect', aimed at younger players' conduct towards match officials show according to O'Neill that the GAA is a tolerant organisation.

"We are working on it, and every day it gets better. You can't prejudge what is going to happen in every different game.

"How we are judged as an organisation is how we handle every misdemeanour.

"This is an allegation of a misdemeanour. It will be handled fairly by the committee in charge and Ulster Council are setting that process in train.

"I wish them well with it and I hope the clubs involved can put this behind them and get on with playing Gaelic Games which is what we are about," he added.