Mr. Páraic Duffy:

Yes, it is a five-year contract. A huge number of games are shown live on free-to-air, including all the big games, as I said.

That is the first point I want to make. I will make another couple of points. People have an idea that because a number of games are on Sky, many games that they could watch in the past cannot be seen now. It has always been the case that certain games are not shown on television. Every year, many championship games are not shown live on television. I want to give a little perspective to it.

The other point I would make is that we were very anxious. We had a huge demand. I attended the Global Irish Forum in Dublin Castle on several occasions. We were hammered because people were unable to see our games abroad. This was a huge issue during the five years prior to the signing of the original deal with Sky. Through GAAGO and Sky, we have opened up our games to the Irish abroad in a way that was never possible before. People in New York, Sydney and elsewhere can now watch more than 100 games per annum free to air through GAAGO. People in Britain can access our games on television. It is great for the GAA in Britain that games are now available on Sky.

I would like to respond to the assertion that it is disappointing that the GAA has been driven so much towards commercial activity. We are in a competitive world. We spoke earlier about the need to invest in GAA facilities and coaches in rural areas and in Dublin. We cannot do that without finance. As an organisation, we have to be aware of commercial realities. That means engaging in commercial activity and that is what we do. The Croke Park venue hosts concerts and is a commercial vehicle for us. The television rights we have sold to RTE, TG4 and Sky are hugely important for us. We have to get the value of our products. If we do not do so, we will be unable to compete. With respect to Mr. Browne and Mr. Delaney, we are competing with soccer and rugby for resources and for the minds and hearts of young people in Ireland. We have to be able to put coaches into schools. We employ 350 full-time and part-time coaches all over Ireland. We go into thousands of primary schools every year. We need funding to do that. The money we get from our commercial activity is absolutely vital for that.

I would like to dispel the myth that the arrangement with Sky was foisted on the GAA by people in Croke Park. Last year, a terrific motion was brought to the GAA congress proposing that a new rule be enacted to provide that all televised intercounty championship games should be available on free-to-air television. The motion was defeated by 200 votes to 36. People within the GAA understand and accept why this arrangement has been reached. I appreciate that in a perfect world, everybody would want every single game to be live and free on terrestrial television. People in the GAA understand why a small number of our games are televised on a subscription channel.

The Chairman raised the drugs issue. Like all the organisations, we are in total compliance with the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency and Sport Ireland. I think we have an excellent record in this regard. We have blood testing. Our players are open. We meet all the requirements. That will always be the way. In fairness to the GPA, it does a lot of good work to educate our players. This is an absolute priority for us. That will always be the case.

We had a seminar on concussion before Christmas. It was attended by personnel from the University of Pittsburgh, which is a world leader in this area. Our policy is that if there is any doubt about a player who has received a knock on the head, he is taken out of the game and he stays out. I would like to make a point about concussion that I suggest is valid for all organisations. I think we all do pretty well at national level. That is fine when big games take place in Croke Park or the Aviva Stadium, but I am worried about what happens when a fellow gets as big a knock during a junior B game or rugby fifth team game down the country as anyone might get in the Aviva Stadium or Croke Park. If there are no doctors or first-aid people on the sidelines, will those in attendance know what to do? That is why we are trying to tell people our view is that if there is any doubt at all, they must take the player in question out.