Keep GAA Games Out of the Hands of Amazon

Aontú Leader & Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has called on the government and the GAA to ensure that broadcast rights for GAA Games be kept out of the hands of Amazon Prime when they come up for negotiation and review later this year.

An Teachta Tóibín:

“The GAA is an integral part of our heritage. The GAA is more than just a sport. The revival of the Irish language and the flourishing of the GAA games are key to our identity as Irish people. The GAA is even central to our formation as a state. Only in November of last year, Irish people tuned in for free to watch the heart-breaking commemoration of Bloody Sunday by the GAA”.

“Amazon which has been supercharged by Covid, has steam rolled thousands of Irish jobs and businesses. It has a radically unfair competitive advantage over small to medium sized Irish businesses. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is worth $180 billion. This is an obscene amount of money for any one person to own. Its medieval, especially given the poverty of billions of other people on the planet. Jeff’s company paid no Federal tax in the US in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and in 2019 paid at a rate of 1.2%. How are Irish shops, who have to pay fair rates of tax and business rates, to be expected to compete with dozens of Amazon trucks rolling into Rosslare every month. We in Aontú are looking to legislate for a business rate to be applied to companies such as Amazon in order to level the playing field”.

“If Amazon suddenly have broadcasting rights, tens of thousands of people will be denied the ability to watch our heritage being played out on our screens. Working men and women, and communities will have to further line the pockets of Jeff Bezos to watch their County in action. Taxpayer monies go into funding the GAA. Volunteers and fundraising keep clubs and county structures afloat. The ethos of the GAA is for the love of the game. We understand that the GAA are under pressure financially and we are calling in the government to step up and fill the breach. To suddenly sell those rights to Amazon would be a betrayal of those volunteers, of that ethos that has always been at the heart of the GAA.”

“Our small businesses and retailers have been devastated, whilst Amazon has profited. Consistently, this government fails to protect Irish interests when the question of what is right and wrong, and what is profitable come up. Let’s make sure the GAA games are not denied to the Irish people, for Amazon’s profit.”

The Irish political system is radically broken

In Ireland the vast majority of elected representatives put a finger in the air to check which way the political wind is blowing. They have one eye on their leaders – seeking brownie points – and another eye keeping their seat safe. If elected reps shut up and do as they’re told, they are promoted; if they stand up for what they believe in, they are demoted. No wonder we have the political class we have. No wonder one point one billion euro is being buried in a hole under the National Children’s Hospital and that Stormont is in stalemate.

Throughout Ireland, many people are now afraid to say what they feel, many are afraid to respectfully engage on a range of different topics. Many feel there is a new censorship and a new political correctness in Ireland, that opposition to the establishment is being deleted.

Respectful opposition is not the enemy. Respectful opposition is a critical element of a functional democracy. Aontú will have the backbone to stand up, without fear, for you.