Mr. Páraic Duffy:

I would like to respond to some of the Deputy's direct questions. This is a headline from thejournal.ie, 16 September 2013:

GAA seeking to expand TV coverage of games for Irish people abroad
Director-General Paraic Duffy has confirmed the association are focusing on making the games more accessible around the world.

We will not make money from the Australian deal; it will probably cost us money overall. Why would we make any arrangement other than a free-to-air deal when we are in a position to make that deal? We are in a position to do this with Channel 7, the biggest in Australia, and it amounted to a golden opportunity but with no financial benefit in making the deal.

As I stated, if the BBC had told us it would include 20 big championship games, including all-Ireland finals, semi-finals, etc. in free-to-air services in Britain, we would have jumped at the chance. It did not make such an offer and neither did ITV nor Channel 4. Sky indicated that it was willing to do so.