Mr. Donal Smyth:

From our point of view, there are a few incidents that are historical. During the championships last year where there were a couple of big decisions that went against particular teams the referees were subjected to awful abuse. Ireland is a such a small country that an envelope with only Donal Smyth, Navan, on it can get to me. That is what is happening around the country. The top referees are so well known these types of letters are getting to them. I get them at Croke Park as well, which I deal with specifically.

The other issue is the online abuse. A referee makes a decision in a split second on a particular day, which he believes is right. There is no understanding of how or why the referee makes a decision. On two occasions last year, two of our top referees were subjected to awful abuse. As rightly said by Mr. Slattery, we are lucky that we have such comradery of the panels in supporting each other, as well as the other supports. As said earlier by Mr. Ryan, in ordinary club games, in some cases, referees do not report the incidents. That is where the issues arise. We are trying to provide support and to encourage referees to report abuse, but as said in earlier responses it is insidious. When top referees are being subjected to it, what is happening at local level worries me.

I want to return to a point made earlier by Mr. Phillips. The most important thing is the support structure. As every referee in the GAA is a member of a club, the club should be putting the arm around the referee in that circumstance as well and also be providing support. We are a community. We should be providing support from that perspective as well.