Dr. Katie Liston:

I thank the Senators. There is a breadth of interest. I will make a few comments and we will be happy to follow up in more detail. Without having consulted with Professor Maguire, I think we share the concerns about the uneven effects of commercialisation in sport. We share the concerns about broadcasting rights and whether they are available to entire populations, but that might be a matter for RTÉ and other organisations that we cannot really comment on today.

I will address a theme in the Senators' questions before I deal with some specifics. They referred to "the power of sport". In our submission, we make the case that we need to be careful about that because it is not simply powerful in one direction. It can be both a social glue and a social toxin. It is an activity that is conducted by people, for people. It is not a matter of sport itself, but what we as people do with it. In response to the specific question about the political boundary rule in athletics, it is an anomaly compared with other international supports. That is the case because, as we point out in our submission, even in politics, there are few complexities that rival the world of Irish sport.

There are perhaps not enough discussions about various constitutions and jurisdictions for sport on a 32-county, 26-county or six-county basis. Athletics is not constituted on a 32-county basis, hence there are some concerns and there have been representations about the political boundary rule in that particular sport. In boxing, the use of the title reflects the fact that boxing is constituted on a 32-county basis, but those are contested issues. In the future, for relationships between groups, we need to ensure that we include those concerns in any direction that we take. In a possible unification scenario, that might push some post-partition issues further away. It might enhance the appeal of some sports to all communities. It could also reinforce more exclusive claims to identity and governance in others.