Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I thank each of the organisations for being with us today. There are very few people in this House who needed a pandemic to outline to them the importance of sport to society, our mental health and many other aspects. It would be wrong of us, however, not to acknowledge formally the huge level of contribution sport, particularly the structure of sport, played during the early stages of this pandemic. The organised ability of local sports clubs to respond, whether to assist older people in their homes or to allow people engage online in a structured way, was crucially important and I want to acknowledge that here.

The witnesses are right in terms of the return to activity. I saw joy on the faces of some children in my area. Many people are returning to games across the country. While we may not be able to do that in Dublin, my club, Ballymun Kickhams, is in the club final and we will try to support that club with our red and green flags, as they did with Bohemians, in Phibsboro, with the red and black flags. There is no doubt about the psychological benefits of sport.

While sport is not a business, it does have a financial model. I will focus on that briefly to assist the witnesses make the point that each of them has made. The IRFU has been clear in the figure it has given of €30 million. The GAA and the FAI might outline what they believe their financial loss might be, and I apologise if I missed it in the submission.