TV3 weighing up bilingual option
This is the first year the deciders will not be broadcast by RTÉ who, with Micheal Ó Sé at the mike, had adhered to the tradition of commentating ‘as gaeilge’ and the issue is something of a tricky one for the new rights holder.
Gaelgoirs would balk at the prospect of Irish being dropped, in part or in full, but the reality is there are thousands of non-native speakers who have found it difficult to engage with the September minor games on TV.
Conradh na Gaeilge have previously written to both TV3 and Newstalk to ascertain their plans but it seems there was nothing written into the contract by the GAA to insist that Irish be used.
GAA president Christy Cooney yesterday declined to declare a preference for either language and preferred instead to leave it in the hands of TV3.
“The honest answer is that TV3 hasn’t decided on its strategy yet,” said Ciaran O’Hara, who is managing director of Asgard, the production company that works alongside TV3 on their GAA coverage. There are a lot of things being considered but the one thing that has been made clear to us in investigating what possibilities there are is that we should try to remain true to some (past) traditions.”
