Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of developing a unique IP address for Northern Ireland residents to prevent geo blocking of Irish sports coverage from Ireland.

The Government recognises the importance of residents of Northern Ireland being able to access coverage of important sporting and other cultural events that are relevant to communities across the island of Ireland.

While decisions on the coverage of sporting events are for rights holders and broadcasters to make independent of their respective Governments, we would encourage sports rights holders and relevant broadcasters to have in place suitable arrangements to ensure Northern Ireland residents can continue to access sports coverage from Ireland.

Given the cross-border nature of the concerns raised, I have also asked my officials to discuss these issues with their counterparts in the Irish Government.