Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mar dhuine as Contae an Dúin, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh le hiománaithe Chontae Aontroma as an bhua s'acu ar an Domhnach. I wish to begin by congratulating and commending the County Antrim senior hurlers for their Joe McDonagh Cup win at Croke Park on Sunday. There is a real burgeoning resurgence in hurling in the county and while it is not confined to Belfast alone, we all know the very rich hurling history and heritage of the Glens.I particularly want to reference Gaelfast and what it is doing at a grassroots, community level in the city of Belfast to build the GAA at an underage, grassroots level across the city. We are starting to see the fruits of that labour in the illustrious and important win for the county at the weekend. I commend everyone involved in that initiative but, more importantly given the weekend that has been in it, the team itself, the entire panel, the backroom staff and coaches, and everyone involved in bringing us a great deal of happiness and joy at a difficult time.

Many fans from Antrim were unable to make the journey to Croke Park. I dare say a big crowd of them would have made the journey to Dublin but could not because of Covid-19 restrictions. With that in mind, it was deeply disappointing and quite offensive that as Conor McCann, the Antrim captain, uttered the first words of his speech, RTÉ cut to an ad break. That was offensive to him, his family, club mates, fellow players on the county team and everyone watching at home. There is a wee bit of a pattern there. It is not my job or that of anyone here to tell RTÉ what editorial decisions to take, but certainly when it comes to six of our counties, there is a wee bit of a pattern of insult emerging more and more. That was unfortunately reflected negatively on an otherwise happy and positive occasion on Sunday.