Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are a lot of witnesses to try to get through. I thank Ms Magee for the work of GAA Scór. My own club, Navan O'Mahonys GAA, qualified for the Leinster final at the weekend.

I will start with Mr. Parsons. The GAA president, Jarlath Burns, spoke about the costs of intercounty teams, which is north of €40 million, and described it as “unsustainable”. He is right. In the context of the debate on integration with the LGFA and the Camogie Association, he spoke about bringing everyone down. It is not a case that a bar has been set and everyone should come up to that bar because that would impact the amateur ethos. Intercounty managers are driving those costs; there are no two ways about it. Mr. Parsons spoke about seeking the elimination of pre-season tournaments. I disagree because, even this season, managers whose teams were competing in those pre-season intercounty tournaments, had their teams playing intercounty matches behind closed doors the day after.

The context for what is driving the costs of intercounty teams is that teams are having are four, five or more training sessions per week and all the backroom teams of 20 to 30 members are being paid. This is a runaway train that is being driven by managers. It is not a case that we are not looking after our players. The GPA, GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association all want to look after the players. We now have the GAA president saying we need a task force on amateurism. There is an issue here for the broader GAA family regarding the promotion of our native sport and culture. I ask Mr. Parsons for his comments on what the uachtarán said earlier.