GAA needs to be top of sports agenda on RTÉ

THE ‘Six One News’ bulletin on RTÉ on Sunday was followed, as usual, by the sports bulletin. The lead item covered a soccer report from the English Premier League followed by reports on the Scottish League Cup matches.

Third was a short piece on the annual Dublin City Marathon, one of the most iconic and important events in Ireland’s sporting fixture list.

Bringing up the rear of this pecking order was the numerous club hurling and football county finals and provincial championship matches.

These club finals are the second most important sports events in the GAA calendar, next only to the All Ireland Senior Football, Hurling and Camogie Championships.

Are we as a people, and RTÉ in particular, so filled with such levels of self-loathing that the sports department of Ireland’s national broadcaster regards news coverage of English domestic soccer more important to transmit to Irish viewers than the GAA club finals? This is not to suggest that English football be ignored by RTÉ, but surely important Irish sporting events should receive appropriate air time?

RTÉ, as the national broadcaster and a publicly funded corporation, has a duty to project a distinctly Irish world view and an obligation to uphold, report and promote the values and culture of the people of Ireland.

Giving Irish sporting events fair and balanced coverage on Irish television and radio would be a good start. Tom Cooper Templeogue, Dublin