VIEWERS IN THE North being unable to watch The Traitors Ireland on the RTÉ Player has been criticised by a Sinn Féin TD.

Joanna Byrne, the party’s spokesperson on Media, Communications and Sport, said the geo-blocking of some programmes must end, but added that it will continue unless the government takes action.

While the programme is available to watch live on television in the North, it is not available on the RTÉ Player for viewers to watch live or catch-up.

The second series of the hit-show launched on Sunday night and continues every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.

The first season was a huge success for RTÉ, clocking up more than 800,000 viewers on its most-watched episode.

While those in the North were able to watch along or catch up on the RTÉ Player last year, they find themselves geo-blocked this year (they are also blocked from catching up on last year’s series).

In a statement to The Journal, RTÉ said it “viewers in Northern Ireland can watch The Traitors Ireland series 2 on linear television but not on the RTÉ Player”.

An RTÉ spokesperson said this is “due to territorial rights restrictions” which means that “certain programmes cannot be streamed on RTÉ Player in Northern Ireland”.

Byrne said she understood territorial rights restrictions, put in by the creators, is the issue, but added that if the Irish government introduced legislation it could end that embargo.

“The government are the ones who will not move or do anything to end geo-blocking,” she said, stating that she co-sponsored a private members’ bill to end geo-blocking, alongside Aengus O Snodaigh. 

The aim of the bill is to ensure equal access to services across the whole island of Ireland.

In considering the Broadcasting (All Ireland Service) (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Culture, Communications and Sport, agreed a cross-party recommendation to recognise audiences in Northern Ireland as under-served audiences, she said. 

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“At the time I welcomed that colleagues from across government and opposition had come together to recognise that the geo-blocking of audiences, exclusion from competitions and erasure from maps of the six counties by RTÉ needs to be addressed,” she told The Journal.

That recommendation was put forward on a cross-party basis at committee and demonstrated a rare unity of purpose among TDs and senators to making sure national broadcasters serve the whole of the nation, said Byrne

“This goes to the heart of the southern establishment’s disregard for and perception of Irish citizens in the North,” she said.

“As Ireland came to a standstill to cheer on the boys in green only a few months ago in the football it was wrong then that so many people in the North were unable to watch our national football team play their World Cup qualifier free-to-air on RTÉ because it was geo-blocked. It is the exact same now with The Traitors,” Byrne said.