Sports Organisations
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-21
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Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

This would be a good issue for the committee to explore and something the Senator, working with the committee, would be able to do. We do not have any plans to extend the reach of Government in relation to deciding what games should and should not be on TV. We all want to see as many games as possible. We have many more now than we did a few years ago. It is challenging when a game like this, that is so looked forward to, is not shown on television. It would be a worthwhile conversation to have in relation to examining the GAA's position on this. If the committee has any proposals it wants the Government to consider, it can submit them.
Ultimately, it is about what is proportionate for the Government to be involved in and what is not. We have capacity in the State to designate certain games free to air. We have done that for Gaelic games. How far we take that is a question that has to be given strong consideration in terms of what is appropriate and what is not, bearing in mind the independence of sporting organisations, what access to games serves the public well and the capacity of independent sporting organisations to conduct their commercial and financial affairs.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-21