Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications
Sponsorship of Major Sporting Events by Drinks Industry: Discussion with FAI, GAA and IRFU
10:05 am
Mr. Páraic Duffy:
They are good questions, to which I will try to respond. The GAA is not dependent on sponsorship from the alcohol industry. It has one long-standing sponsor, one of the longest in Irish sport, namely, Guinness. Its sponsorship accounts for a small percentage of our overall budget. I could not honestly make the argument that we could not survive without it because we could. We are speaking here today on behalf of Irish sport. Just because the GAA would not be as badly affected as others does not mean sponsorship is not important. We are all part of the sporting nation. The Deputy is correct that sponsorship of the GAA by the alcohol industry accounts for a relatively small percentage of its income at national level. At club level, none of our clubs or county teams is sponsored directly by alcohol companies rather local teams are sponsored by local hotels or bars. Sponsorship is hugely important for clubs at that level. It is important the impression is not given that alcohol is the problem. Often the local bar is the centre of the community and sponsorship by a bar of a local GAA club is part of a community initiative and no more. At local level, a number of our clubs receive sponsorship from hotels or bars. Sponsorship at national level is not huge.
At national level, the only sponsor of the GAA is Guinness. It has been our sponsor for many years. It does not target its sponsorship at young people rather it is targeted at a GAA audience of older people. We would have no concerns about how that sponsorship has been handled and so on. I would like to reiterate a point I made earlier in my presentation. The view of the GAA is that sponsorship by alcohol companies should be allowed not because the GAA would be affected directly if it was withdrawn but because of its effect on sports generally. The GAA believes passionately that the way forward is through education. With funding from the HSE, the GAA has three people working full time in this area. We are making huge strides in this regard. We have shared what we are doing with the FAI and IRFU. We believe the way forward is to invest in educating people, using the sporting bodies. We are in the game and are willing to play a bigger role in it. We recently launched the healthy clubs initiative with Dr. Tony Holohan.
No comments