Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the light of the comments made by Senators Ivana Bacik and Susan O'Keeffe, I recommend to Members of all genders that they see the movie "Suffragette" which is being shown in Irish cinemas. It traces in a fictional way, albeit with a factual background, the struggle of women in the earlier part of the last century to achieve the vote. While people now take this for granted, the movie is a timely reminder of the harassment and persecution of women by the British establishment, as well as in Ireland where there were active suffragettes. Meryl Streep plays a cameo role as Emmeline Pankhurst who, of course, was the leader of the suffragettes. While it is an educational movie in one sense, it is also highly entertaining and deeply moving. In the context of the earlier remarks, I highly recommend that if Members are planning to go to the cinema, they see "Suffragette".

My main reason for contributing is to welcome the statement made by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, on the ongoing discussions on whether certain sports events should be listed for terrestrial viewing. I found his statement interesting in the light of the success of TV3 in literally wresting from RTE the rights to show the Six Nations rugby internationals from 2018 onwards, which goes to show how competitive the television landscape in Ireland has become. However, in the light of that development, the Minister made a statement earlier this year that he was considering the designation of three sports events as being free to air, in other words, to ensure Irish television viewers would not be obliged to pay to watch them. There are quite a number of sports events so designated such as the all-Ireland football finals. However, it is interesting that of the three he is considering, one is the aforementioned Six Nations championship, but the other two are women-based, one being the senior ladies football final and the other the senior camogie final. I call on the head of sport in RTE, Ryle Nugent, to try to change the policy of RTE television specifically, rather than RTE radio, whereby every newscast, particularly at the weekend, starts with the results of English premier league matches. Last Sunday was a particular example. If the Cathaoirleach will indulge me for one moment, I attended the Connacht senior ladies football final in the wonderful facilities of Kilglass outside Rooskey, County Roscommon, where Kilkerrin-Clonberne of County Galway played Kiltubrid of County Leitrim, the Leitrim senior champions based down the road from where I live. Not a single line appeared in the television sports results that night about the Connacht provincial decider, but all of the Premiership results were given first. I do not suggest they should not be given, but they were given first, followed by all of the domestic sports results, excluding the result of the women's football game. This is not the first time this has happened and, as the national broadcaster, RTE should take on the responsibility and be more inclusive in the results it broadcasts on air. It is not simply because it happened to involve a team from my home county; this is a consistent policy in RTE.