Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our visitors and experts to this meeting. I would not second guess any of the work done by their organisations individually or collectively. I would love to see all juvenile and senior teams in the country playing again and all of our international stadia full, but Covid is no respecter of sport. While it is correct to say that there is no known incident of Covid transmission at a GAA game, we must follow the public health advice, which the witnesses acknowledge.

I am not worried on that front. Rather, I am worried by the story this morning that, of 40 people who indulged in an outdoor activity called "golf" over a period that I am unsure about, 20 now have the virus called "Covid". Notwithstanding the hurt, upset and anger that exists at this time, particularly in Dublin, and Covid's impact on jobs, unless we act to the benefit of everyone, we will not beat this virus. I have no problem with an all-island strategy for sport, and if public health experts in both jurisdictions say that best practice would see us going in a certain direction, then that is where we should go, but either it works for all of us or it works for none of us.

I laud the full support given by the sporting bodies. For example, they have allowed the HSE to use their community facilities, they have educated and informed and they have regulated their sports in a constructive way. That has been very positive and beneficial. I do not know whether the witnesses would like to comment on this point, but whether it is north, south, east or west, the name of the game is "Beat Covid". Until we do that, we will all suffer. The majority of people love sport. They play it and follow it and their lives are about sport. I am making this point strongly.