There is little reason to make us think that guts are in strong supply

HERE was a time when few soccer internationals in Dublin were televised, because it would interfere with the gate at the game.

Should the Government pass a law to compel the FAI to show the games free on terrestrial television? Should they then pass another law for everyone to see major movies free. That could be called the New Freedom! Wouldn't it be great? Of course, it wouldn't; it would ultimately lead to a new form of slavery in which the efforts of others would be legally hijacked. A few years ago, when the Broadcasting (Major Events Television Coverage) Act was being drafted, the FAI, IRFU, and GAA refused to cooperate in compiling a list of events that could only be televised free of charge.

One might say that the Government funked the issue then, because they would never have the guts to take on the GAA, or so much as the three associations the GAA, FAI and IRFU at the same. Guts were never in strong supply in the last government, and there is little reason yet to think that things have really changed.