GAA ‘cashless paywalls' snub to elderly says Kerry TD
Deputy Cahill has come out against what he calls the 'discriminatory focus' on cash cards for entry payment at games. He called on sports bodies and broadcasters for a better effort in helping the elderly and those 'not up to speed' with paywalls and cashless methods.
He slammed the fact Kerry's game against Cork this Saturday in round two of the All-Ireland championship series will not be shown live on terrestrial TV and cash will not be accepted at the turnstiles at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
'This denies access to our native games to a significant and highly respected percentage of our people. Sporting bodies not alone receive funding from attendances at fixtures and from broadcasts, they also depend on government and EU financial support,' Deputy Cahill said.
'They must, I believe, accept the responsibility to provide access for all and not put large sections of our population at a disadvantage when it comes to viewing our national games. Equality of access to these must be provided for everyone,' he added.
Deputy Cahill made the point that many senior citizens had played GAA and attended games with their children over the years.
He said they continue to support their clubs and counties, and the present way of doing things treats it as if none of it matters.
'Well, it does matter. It matters to me and it matters to my constituents and it matters to people all over Ireland. This type of exclusion is shameful,' he added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
19 minutes ago
- Irish Times
About 600 learners fail to show for driving tests each month
Almost 2,400 learner drivers failed to attend for their driving test appointments in the first four months of this year, it has emerged. This brings to 17,500 the number of unusable driving test slots since January 2023 because of 'no show' candidates, which means the Road Safety Authority (RSA) received almost €1.5 million in non-refundable test application fees. It has also emerged that there are no driver testers in 12 of the State's 57 car test centres. Currently, 137 driving testers are in place at 45 centres. The RSA is recruiting and training new testers and expects to have 200 in place by the end of the year. The RSA has said that while some test centres do not have driving testers, this does not infer that these centres are not being serviced. 'The service is managed to balance available skilled resources across all locations,' the authority said. READ MORE Across the 57 test centres, 6,440 learner drivers failed to show up for their test in 2023. This increased to 8,663 last year. Figures released by the RSA to Fine Gael TD Emer Currie show 2,387 candidates did not show for their test scheduled in the first four months of this year, having failed to cancel in advance of the test. Ms Currie said no-shows this year are working out at 600 a month. 'That level of waste should be re-examined when so may people are desperate to take their tests,' she said. 'It also brings into focus the bizarre situation where learner drivers can miss driving tests but continue to reapply to renew their learner permits.' Once a learner has written confirmation that they applied for their test, they can then apply to renew their learner permit. [ Irish motorists face up to 10 months wait for driving tests with longest in Dublin and Meath centres Opens in new window ] The Dublin West TD added: 'The RSA should be clamping down on waste and workarounds. I'm not sure we are seeing the urgency we should if people are gaming the system.' Chair of road safety campaign group Parc Susan Gray said that since the beginning of 2023 up to the end of April, the authority 'has received €1,486,650 in payments from the no-shows'. 'We believe the RSA are rewarding these drivers for not showing up by issuing a new permit at a cost of €85, which will last a year. Then the learner will be back the following year looking for another renewal for €85.' A learner who completes the test and fails can renew their permit for two years, while a no-show has to renew annually. 'These no-shows know it doesn't matter to the RSA if they fail to turn up for their scheduled test date as the RSA will continue to renew their permits every year.' She added that the Department of Transport is working on secondary legislation, which does not have to go through the Dáil and Seanad, to limit the number of learner permits issued to candidates who fail to show for driving tests. [ TD calls for free-of-charge driving tests if applicants obliged to wait more than 10 weeks Opens in new window ] But this cannot be done until the Minister for Transport receives the RSA's implementation plans to close the loophole, said Ms Gray. The new testers being recruited will have permanent contracts. In a previous recruitment campaign, a number of testers were on temporary contracts, which adversely affected waiting times when their contracts ended. Ms Gray said the lack of testers is 'very alarming'. For example, Buncrana, the only test centre to cover the Inishowen peninsula in Co Donegal, has no driver tester, she said. 'We don't have much confidence in the RSA system that these test centres will be adequately resourced because effectively they will have to take testers from another centre.' Ms Currie said she is looking forward to seeing the RSA appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Transport in the coming weeks to explain why 12 out of 57 driving test centres do not have any testers. The 12 test centres with no driving testers are: Charlestown, Maple House in Mulhuddart, and Killester, Dublin; Buncrana, Co Donegal; Clifden, Co Gaway; Talbot Hotel, Co Carlow; Mallow and Skibbereen, Co Cork; O'Loughlin Gaels centre, Co Kilkenny; Kilrush and Shannon, Co Clare; Longford; and Portlaoise. RSA chief operating officer Brendan Walsh said the authority 'will have employed 91 people on permanent contracts to bring the number of permanent driver testers up to the sanctioned 200″.
Irish Times
27 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Alex Dunne regains lead in Formula 2 drivers' championship
Ireland's Alex Dunne has retaken the Formula 2 drivers' championship after a solid showing at the Spanish Grand Prix by the Rodin Motorsport driver. The 19-year-old from Co Offaly came second in Saturday's sprint race at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, earning him nine points which saw him overtake Hitech TGR's Luke Browning in the drivers' standings. Holding a four-point championship lead heading into Sunday's feature race, Dunne started from fifth on the grid and remained P5 by the chequered flag, earning him a further 11 points from the weekend. Dunne, who is part of McLaren's driver development programme, now holds a three-point lead over MP Motorsport's Richard Verschoor, who finished Sunday's race P3, while race winner Arvid Lindblad jumped to third on 79 points. READ MORE Rodin Motorsport sit fifth in the team standings, currently led by Spanish team Campos Racing. Dunne has taken two feature race wins so far this season, coming in the second and fourth rounds in Sakhir and Imola respectively. Eight race weekends remain in the 14-event F2 season, which will finish alongside the F1 championship in Abu Dhabi on the first weekend of December.
The Irish Sun
34 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Donegal hammer Cavan by 19 as Michael Murphy and co run riot at Breffni
IT'S level pegging across Group 1 of the All-Ireland SFC round-robin, with Donegal running in a 19-point victory over Cavan at Breffni Park. For the fourth time in four, it was the visitors who picked up the points to leave 2 Donegal blew Cavan away in the All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 2 match at Kingspan Breffni Park 2 Donegal and Jim McGuinness are now on a collision course with Mayo That's ahead of the last series of fixtures takes the quartet on their travels to the neutral venues. Donegal hadn't it all their own way for spells to begin with, put things together to post a 19-point victory at Breffni Park, with goals from Finnbarr Roarty, Conor O'Donnell and Coalan McColgan. Now, Donegal are on a collision course with Mayo, whilst Cavan and Tyrone will both want to pick themselves up against one another. A swirly wind wasn't overly helpful for Donegal in the first half but an altercation between manager Jim McGuinness and READ MORE ONN GAA They carried that wave into a strong finish of the opening half and git the high gears in the second. Donegal went to Breffni Park as the only side in the group without a point, following Mayo's 2-17 to 1-14 victory against Tyrone in Omagh on Saturday night. As against Tyrone, Donegal goalkeeper Shaun Patton, who twisted his ankle in the Ulster final victory over Armagh, did the warm-up. But as against Tyrone, it was Gavin Mulreany who got the nod with Conor O'Donnell and Caolan McColgan also late changes, in place of Daire Ó Baoill and Oisin Gallen. Most read in GAA Football Cavan exited the Ulster SFC at the quarter-final stage, 1-24 to 0-20 against Tyrone. A 2-17 to 1-14 success in Castlebar and two weeks' preparation, compared to Donegal's one meant there was an air of optimism around Breffni Park. Tipperary GAA star 'had to do live apology on RTE' the day after cursing during All-Ireland interview - Whatever jitters Donegal might've possessed would've been ramped up a bit when Brian O'Connell squeezed home a 16th minute goal. Peadar Mogan got a block on Cormac O'Reilly's shot and it looked to be spinning wide only for the Cavan full-back to squeeze it in at the back post. It made the score 1-2 to 0-5, with Donegal having made a decent start, with a couple of Shane O'Donnell points and an effortless Michael Murphy two-pointer, albeit with whatever advantage there was to be had from the swirling breeze that rolled up from Cavan town. Cavan were keeping in touch through Cian Madden and O'Reilly, while Donegal were edging ahead with Caolan McColgan, Murphy and Conor O'Donnell. Seven minutes before the break, with Donegal 0-9 to 1-5 up, a lovely Ryan McHugh pass got Finnbarr Roarty in on goal, only for Liam Brady in the Cavan goal to save. Murphy slotted over the 45, his second of the half, bringing his total to five. Donegal passed up on a second goal chance when Michael Langan was played in by Shane O'Donnell but the shot was straight at Brady and Cavan survived again. The temperature rose sharply just before half-time when McGuinness made his way over to his opposite number, Galligan, to remonstrate after Dara McVeety, in the Donegal manager's opinion, went down too easily. Full of voice, both ended up in referee Fergal Kelly's book. The row did spark the crowd into life, with Donegal's travelling support to be heard in full voice and their decibel level went even higher when, after the hooter and in the last play of the half, Roarty made no mistake when he was given a second goal chance. Donegal moved it and moved it fast with Shane O'Donnell, Murphy, then McBrearty, laying off to Roarty, who planted past Liam Brady for a goal, which made for a lead of 1-12 to 1-5. Although Cavan had the wind, Donegal teams are never shy about moving it ball in hand and could take Oisin Gallen off the bench, to score three points. In all, 13 Donegal players got on the scoreboard as four wides early in the third quarter hit Cavan's hopes. Conor O'Donnell, like Roarty, almost got a goal before he actually did, when he palmed over a Mogan centre but the Carndonagh man placed a splendid second goal on 62 minutes to move Donegal 2-22 to 1-11 ahead. By then, eight minutes before, Murphy had left to a standing ovation. And like the first half, Donegal managed a goal when the hooter had gone. Caolan McColgan, with Cavan fans headed towards the exit, smashed high into the net with Shane O'Donnell providing the assist. Cavan 1-13 Donegal 3-26 Cavan scorers: C Madden 0-4 (2f), B O'Connell 1-0, D McVeety 0-3 (2m), C O'Reilly 0-2, G Smith 0-1, K Clarke 0-1, L Brady 0-1, J Smith 0-1 Donegal scorers: M Murphy 0-7 (2m, 2 '45, 1f), C O'Donnell 1-4, C McColgan 1-1, F Roarty 1-0, S O'Donnell 0-3, O Gallen 0-3, C Thompson 0-3 (2f), P Mogan 0-1, C Moore 0-1, R McHugh 0-1, J Brennan 0-1, P McBrearty 0-1 (1f) Donegal: G Mulreany; F Roarty, B McCole, P Mogan; R McHugh, E B Gallagher, C McColgan; H McFadden, M Langan; C Moore, C Thompson, S O'Donnell; P McBrearty, M Murphy, C O'Donnell Substitutes: O Gallen for P McBrearty (half-time), D Ó Baoill for M Murphy (54'), A Doherty for E B Gallagher (64'), S McMenamin for F Roarty (57'), J Brennan for P Mogan (63') Cavan: L Brady; N Carolan, B O'Connell, C Reilly; P Faulkner, C Brady, K Brady; E Crowe, O Kiernan; G Smith, D McVeety, C Madden; S McEvoy, R Donohoe, C O'Reilly Substitutes: P Lynch and J Smith for R Donohoe and S McEvoy (half-time), O Brady for C O'Reilly (50'), K Clarke for C Madden (53'), L Fortune for K Brady (57') Referee: F Kelly
