GAA president seeks meeting with Taoiseach over criticism of GAAGO

GAA president Jarlath Burns said he is seeking an early meeting with Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin over the Government’s criticism of GAAGO.

Mr Burns said he was “surprised and disappointed” by criticism of the GAAGO service by Mr Harris and Mr Martin.

Last week, the Taoiseach said the GAA had “got it wrong” about the streaming service and asked it to review their use, while Mr Martin expressed “huge concerns” about the platform.

GAAGO charges users €79 for a season pass, which includes 38 games.

Mr Burns defended the streaming service on Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio.

“I’m very surprised to hear the Taoiseach speaking about this, considering that last year we sat in front of an Oireachtas committee.

“We were asked to do so and we did so,” he said.

“There were no issues and at the end of it they accepted every argument that we had, all of our rationale for the fact that we only have one broadcast partner, which is RTÉ, they have 35 matches.

“If you try to imagine a world without GAAGO, the rest of these games just would not be broadcast because we only have one broadcast partner.

“Myself and Tom Ryan Ard Stiurthoir (director general) last Wednesday actually had a meeting with the Sports Minister Thomas Byrne and all of his officials, we actually put GAAGO on the agenda, and we asked him were there any residual issues coming up and he said no.

“(He said) We accept that GAAGO is an outstanding service, particularly for exiles abroad and who wouldn’t be able to watch any of the games and GAA has a growing global market.”

He said he also had a meeting with Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe in Croke Park two weeks ago and GAAGO was not raised.

What a game of hurling in @PaircUiCha0imh