Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Friday, 18 September 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Covid-19: Impact on Team Sport in Ireland

Mr. Philip Browne:

Yes, we would operate on exactly the same basis. We would put pilots in place to see how we can get to a capacity that is acceptable to NPHET and the HSE.

That would work for us as well. One of the difficulties is that if we are putting 5,000 people into the Aviva stadium, there is actually a cost. While the optics look great in terms of having 5,000 people in the stadium, it costs us money to do that. In ramping up, we achieve one objective, namely, getting people into the grounds, but it ends up costing the organisation a significant amount. We have to find those balances. If we have to invest in order to get to the 18,000 spectators or 1 m social distancing, that is what we have to do.