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TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS has re-opened the debate regarding GAA GO after reaffirming his stance that Gaelic games should not be behind a paywall.
Responding to a question from Noel Grealish in the Dáil this afternoon, Harris said it was important for the GAA hierarchy to listen to the concerns of its grassroots membership.
Referencing his previous comments in May, in which he stated that the association had “gotten this wrong” in relation to the streaming service, the Taoiseach admitted that there had been “a lot of tut-tutting from top brass in the GAA.”
Harris confirmed that both GAA President Jarlath Burns and Director General Tom Ryan had contacted him on the issue and that a meeting with the pair was on the agenda.
“The last time I raised this there was a lot of tut-tutting from top brass in the GAA, and they were very disappointed with my comments, but I’d say this to them, respectfully, far more people are disappointed with how this season has been shown in terms of GAA GO,” the Taoiseach said.
“So don’t listen to me if you don’t want, that’s grand, but please do listen to the grassroots of the GAA. The GAA is an amazing organisation and its beauty has been that it is a grassroots organisation.
“And I’ve said many, many times that the GAA needs to listen to the grassroots. I was at the Cork-Limerick match in Páirc Uí Chaoimh earlier this summer, unfortunately many people across the country did not get a chance to see the game because it was behind a paywall. The same, indeed, was true for Galway and Dublin last weekend, as well.
“So this is a matter for the GAA, it’s also, I think, a role that we talk about public service broadcasting and RTE, I think there is a role in that dimension too.
“But there has to be a better way of doing this. I’m certainly a big supporter of the GAA, the government is a big supporter of the GAA. But I do think they should listen to the grassroots and I absolutely look forward to meeting with the President of the GAA and the Director General, both of whom have reached out to me on this issue.”
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Wrong on so many levels GAA GO.
Amateur sport
Played by amateurs
Supported by family and neighbours.
All to bring more money into the GAA to waste on the top brass.
No wonder the volunteer numbers are way down in our club.
I might join them.
@Vinny Hughes: The days of volunteerism & doing it for the love of the club are long gone. I thought Jarlath Burns might be a breath of fresh air, but he has been a major disappointment. The GAA getting into bed with RTE & having Dee Forbes as an original Director shows how far they have fallen. It’s all about what’s in it for each person now at club & county & the under the counter payments of undeclared cash to club & county managers has destroyed volunteerism. You have to blame Revenue as well allowing Inter County managers earn six figure sums & not declare it & at club level five figure sums paid out every year to mercenary managers. Millions lost to the Exchequer in undeclared income. Now the GPA want a slice of TV money & why wouldn’t they if their managers are earning big sums.
100% the big games should not behind a pay wall. Have the people on big salaried jobs in croke park ect for got about the people on the ground who made this sport how great it is .Not the big heads in croke park. Cop on and listen to the people..have a pay wall out side Ireland and for the smaller games.
RTE are themselves stakeholders in GAAgo along with GAA. They are in many ways using state funds/licence fee to broadcast the games and then putting them behind a paywall.. there was a very good analogy made of the BBC buying rights to premier league matches using licence fee and then putting them behind a pay wall..
the government and general public should have more of a say in this and demand change.
I just can’t believe a Canadian tourist came here on holidays and is now dead from assault. It’s a disgrace.
Not about the GAA It’s a little bit more important than that. Simon said his party is the party of law and order. I have never seen so much crime and violence committed in the last 10–15 years. More Gards won’t solve the problem; it’s a social problem and a and a crime. No more sound bites. Taoiseach. or opions. When there was a big problem in the eighties in Dublin with drugs, at least the then Taoiseach Charles Haughey had done something. GAA GO is not more important than that.
Thank god the football is behind a pay wall…dreadful stuff to watch.
Hurling still worth a bit of a look but too easy to score long range points
@hi from heaven: how is it easy to score long range points with fit inter county players bearing down on you.You should try it sometime.
This is a matter for Simon Harris?
Has he nothing else to worry about or his his desire to be one of the lads really more important than running the country???
Not every game can be shown on TV. No other sporting organisation gets anywhere near the coverage that Gaelic Football and Hurling get at the moment on national TV. If League of Ireland fans have to use LoI TV streaming service or actually attend a game then I’m sorry I have absolutely no sympathy for GAA fans having to do the same in the few occasions their games are not televised.
@Super Saint: yea it can…look at BT coverages of champions league..you can pick from 8 different games on the interactive
Lots of fans cannot attend games.
@David Cotter: Ah is BT not behind a pay wall
@Super Saint: The most entitled set of sports fans in the world?
The GAA are expecting the Irish Government to pay euros 44.6 million to develop
Casement Park in Belfast.Well the GAA should go to the Catholic Church for the money as their patron is the Archbishop of Cashel No non Catholic Schools/Colleges play GAA sports.So you see the Irish Government cannot expected to pay for a sectarian sport.
League of Ireland on LOITV no big debate about that. Many weekend no League of Ireland on terrestrial tv. Membership of GAAGO costs 69 Euro, much less that subscriptions for Sky Sports or BT Sport.
All Champions Rubgy matches on pay per view, and as Vodafone as always says ” the game of us. ” Cannot wait to see and hear the uproar when Six Nations is behind a paywall as it surely will be
Off course GAA is important but for years the politicians are complaining about all the violence to tourists in Dublin but don’t act accordingly.
Did he really say the word ‘grassroots’ that many times, or is that just bad reporting?
Harris has no substance.. he simply finds the nearest populist bandwagon and jumps aboard.
He knows better than most that the GAA cannot just magic up matches onto our TV screens for FREE no more than fans can just walk in the gate at live matches for free. Yet he sprouts this BS to make himself out to be some kind of later day Robin Hood while the GAA are the evil Sheriff of Nottingham.
Careful what you wish for Simple Simon. The GAA runs very deep in Ireland and its followers are very quick to weed out chancers
have your say