Mr. Declan McBennett:

I would really like the Chair's indulgence to answer that question because the David Clifford scenario ties into it. Three counties either have a grievance or perceived grievance with GAAGO this year, namely, the Kerry footballers, the Clare hurlers and the Monaghan footballers. The Deputy asked directly about Kerry so I will address that. Kerry versus Tipperary was on the same weekend as Mayo versus Galway and Waterford versus Limerick. There is no way, with due respect, anybody was going to pick Kerry versus Tipperary. Kerry won it easily. Kerry versus Clare was on RTÉ. As I said, going back to Deputy Fitzpatrick's point, it was a provincial final, which Kerry won 5-14 to 0-15. Kerry versus Mayo was fixed for the Saturday as a result of the group draw, so we could never have known about it. That weekend we were showing Cork versus Clare and Tipperary versus Limerick. One criticism was that we were not doing enough Munster hurling. If we were doing Kerry, we would have been doing even less Munster hurling. The fourth game, Kerry versus Cork, was fixed by the CCCC for the Saturday. We had two games on the Sunday - Tyrone versus Armagh and Derry versus Donegal. With due respect to Deputy Fitzpatrick, the result of Kerry versus Louth was 5-24 to 0-11. I was never going to pick that game. The Kerry versus Tyrone game was requested by RTÉ as part of a double header with Dublin versus Mayo. Unfortunately for us, and the people of Kerry, it could not be accommodated by the CCCC which independently fixes the schedule.

There is rationale behind each and every choice. I believe, personally and professionally, that there can never be enough David Clifford on the television. Our best ever club game featured David Clifford. Some 127,000 people watched East Kerry beat Dingle.