Louth TD welcomes backing for proposal to end geo-blocking of six county audiences

Louth Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne, has welcomed news that the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Culture, Communications and Sport, in its pre-legislative scrutiny report on the proposed Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill launched today, has agreed a cross-party recommendation to recognise audiences in the North of Ireland as under-served audiences and endorse the incorporation of provisions proposed in Sinn Féin’s Broadcasting (All Ireland Service) Bill 2025 to ensure equal access to services across the whole island of Ireland.

Deputy Byrne, who is also Sinn Féin spokesperson on Media, Communications and Sport, said: “I welcome that colleagues from across government and opposition have come together to recognise that the geo-blocking of audiences, exclusion from competitions and erasure from maps of the Six Counties by RTÉ needs to be addressed.

“This recommendation was one of a number of Sinn Féin proposals accepted on a cross-party basis at Committee, and demonstrates a unity of purpose among TDs and Senators to making sure national broadcasters serve the whole of the nation.

“The Committee also agreed to a Sinn Féin proposal that regional public meetings should be held across Ireland, including in the Six Counties, as part of nationwide consultations by the Audience Councils of RTÉ and TG4 to ensure the input of audiences when providing feedback.

“I encourage the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD, to heed the call by his Government colleagues to implement the Sinn Féin proposals to end geo-blocking and include audiences across the island when he drafts the final Bill."

Deputy Byrne's comments were supported by Dublin South-Central TD and committee member, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, who added: “Members of the Oireachtas from across the party divide have come together to demand an end to the partitioning of the airwaves by public service broadcasters.

“This call demands the implementation of provisions put forward in a Bill introduced by Teachta Byrne and myself in June of this year following the unacceptable exclusion of northern audiences from access to live news bulletins in the lead up to the Paris Olympics and All Ireland Men’s Senior Football Final, where athletes from the Six Counties produced outstanding victories.

“We in Sinn Féin made a commitment in our general election manifesto to end this geo-blocking and exclusion, and less than a year later we have produced legislation to place an onus on national broadcasters to do just that and secured the endorsement of the Oireachtas Media Committee.

“Along with our colleague Daire Hughes MP who has championed this issue on behalf of audiences in the North, the strong all-Ireland Sinn Féin team will continue to stand up for citizens cross Ireland.”