An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-23 ============================================================ Mark Duffy (FG), Labour Panel Better again. I also acknowledge Senator Ahearn’s father Liam. I know that his late mother, Theresa, would be immensely proud and I am sure she is looking down on him with pride. Senator Cathal Byrne spoke of the public service within the Ahearn family, through council chambers and both Houses of the Oireachtas. I know they all hold those values with great pride. I look forward to supporting Senator Ahearn in every way I can throughout his term as Leader. My colleague Mike Kennelly has done a lot of advocacy on the coverage of GAA games as we enter the business end of the season. Obviously, Mayo had a great win against Meath over the weekend and will play Cork this coming weekend. Unfortunately, both of these games will end up being broadcast on GAA+. As Senator Kennelly has outlined before, the GAA is based on volunteerism. The people who fundraise, the waterboys, the managers, the coaches and everyone else have kept together these rural clubs which were and are such a beacon for community and society across County Mayo and elsewhere. Many elderly Mayo supporters will not have access to view the game. They will not be able to travel up to Dublin for the game and do not have the technology or the devices in their houses to watch and enjoy the game. It is very disappointing for them to be excluded from this. Given the volunteerism and the social good within the GAA, there needs to be a broader discussion in this House to make sure there is access for viewers across the country. Finally, I wish to acknowledge Emma Rose Browne from the Sylvan Kelly School of Irish Dancing who won the under-nine national championship this weekend. It is a great honour and we are all very proud of her. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-23/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:05+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-23