Will we get a full Croke Park this year? With every week that goes by it looks more and more unlikely. The Minster for Star of Sport Jack Chambers was talking to Claire Byrne today on RTE Radio 1
“In the roadmap that was published last autumn, we gave exemptions for professional sports,”
“For example, the League of Ireland is a professional league. That is the distinction.
“But we do want to review the plan and how we live with Covid. That is why sport will be included in that.
“To be clear, the government has been very thankful to the GAA and broader sporting organisations for supporting the public health effort. I want to see the Championship this year. I want to see our young people getting back playing.
“When the GAA Championship was run off, that was done in the context of Level 5 and there was a concession outside of Level 5 framework approved by government. Once the Championship finished in December, as you know there was no fixtures scheduled at that point.
“There was also a very difficult Level 5 lockdown for the country so the regulations didn’t capture that because there was no fixtures in the current schedule. The concession concluded at the end of last year.
“When you look at the context of the number of cases in January, that is why the government is revising the plan. I haven’t any communication from NPHET on this. It is a case of giving a direct answer on a concession for inter-county GAA.”
The Minister added that GAA, the Camogie Association and LGFA did not seek to make a return in the immediate future.
“They made it clear that there was not a massive appetite to return in the medium term.”