Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate, as I have said in all of my remarks on this issue, that there are commercial issues at work here. I appreciate the remit which the Minister of State and indeed the line Minister have to operate within. I appreciate that the Minister of State has outlined quite a substantial piece of work that needs to be carried out and that we will not resolve the issue in a Commencement matter this morning. I think and hope we can agree on one principle, regardless of protected games, into which I would like to delve a bit more down the line. I do not accept that matches cannot be provided for via another online platform such as GAAGO without the paywall, if there is the will to do that moving forward. There has to be cognisance of the real frustration and the real inequality, I suppose, coming about as a result of this. Some people can see certain games. There does not seem to be any coherence to which games will be behind a paywall and which games will not. Kerry fans have outlined that four of their team's last five games have been behind a paywall. I do not want to get into the minutiae of that. I simply want to make the case that there is a problem here that is being raised with us across the board. I think the complaints are justified complaints. Both the public service broadcaster and a community-led organisation such as the GAA need to work to ensure equity for viewers and audiences right across the island. In making the point that people should be able to watch games regardless of the platform - whether it is on their television, phone or laptop, - I am not saying that they should be able to do so for free or without cost. They are already paying their licence fee to the public service broadcaster, which should provide the broadest possible service in return. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht an freagra.