Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I welcome the ard-stiúrthóir and the uachtarán of the GAA.

Is the TG4 coverage on Saturdays set to continue? The delegation has told us that RTE has got the 31 matches that it sought and the 100 live GAA matches will continue over three years. The delegation did say the figures clearly. Can it confirm the figures?

I second what was said by Deputy McEntee. I wonder sometimes at the criticism levelled at the GAA when it does things like this. The GAA is an incredible organisation and nothing like it exists anywhere else. Let me refer to the credit that I get from my constituency in Northern Ireland, a lot of whom would be Unionists. As TCD graduates they were absolutely delighted and charmed by the welcome they received when they played the rugby matches in Croke Park, which makes an impact on people.

With regard to the GAA's work in communities, I recall the opening of a new field in Summerhill a couple of years and the rector, who was a woman, and the parish priest jointly opened a facility that would benefit the entire community. I repeat that an incredible amount of work is done by the GAA. What about people going to matches and the people who are left behind? I was in Aughrim last year for a first round match and saw that a huge number of buses had travelled from north Meath ferrying supporters. It felt like nearly everybody from the county had travelled to Aughrim for the match. The GAA does not leave people out or behind.

With regards to the diaspora, Tommy Drumm drops in here from time to time and works in Perth. I am sure that he will be delighted, as a former captain, that his sport has recognised the diaspora. Now that he works abroad he will be able to see the matches.

Sometimes I feel that the criticisms levelled at the GAA do not take into account all of the work that it does. The last critique was on the damage that the GAA was allegedly doing by taking sponsorship from alcohol companies. I thought that the criticism should have been more properly directed at the banks and accountants - the people who got the country into trouble - rather than an organisation which has served us so splendidly.

I wish to refer to another matter. We have discovered that the first Cathaoirleach of the Seanad was Dr. George Sigerson who gave the Sigerson Cup to the GAA. We left him out of our history so it is time that the Seanad and the GAA got together and acknowledged the first Cathaoirleach even though he only served for 24 hours. In addition to being a great supporter of the GAA he was in fact the first Cathaoirleach.

I commend the work that the GAA has been doing on so many layers of Irish society and wish it every success. The moneybags men have taken over the many sports that people have mentioned. They will do serious damage to the sport of rugby, particularly in England. However, I do not think they pose a danger because the GAA is such a democratic and participatory organisation. I am sure that the money will be seen to filter down to clubs up and down the country and used to run the under-11s games, etc.

I welcome what was said by Senator Eamonn Coghlan about using the fields for athletics, if they are free. The gates are mostly left open in the places that I have seen around. Those who doubt the GAA should, in the next couple of months, go to the exhibition matches, before the championship starts, which are held in small villages and so on. It is there that one will see the real heart of the organisation.

I do not expect to be allowed into Croke Park for free. I do not see any political or economic case to support the right to watch matches for free either. We pay a television licence fee and have so-called free-to-air. If a match is on a pay channel either one does not watch it or one pays. One cannot run an organisation like the GAA without money. I think that the GAA gives incredible value for money. It is a naive interpretation of a property right to assume that one has a right to go into Croke Park or watch matches for free. It is that expectation which has informed some of the debate. There is also a mood of anger against a lot of institutions which should not be directed at the GAA for the work that it does.