GAA president Seán Kelly has rejected suggestions by Laois manager Mick O'Dwyer that teams reaching the All-Ireland finals should receive €10,000 per player.

Speaking last night on Today FM show The Last Word, Kelly pointedly referred to those intercounty managers who receive under-the-counter payment for their duties.

In response to the suggestion that this is already rife at intercounty level he said: "My predecessor, Seán McCague, set up a committee to look at the whole question of intercounty managers, but he couldn't come up with any evidence that they were being paid. At the same time, you hear these rumours and I suppose being truthful about it there is no smoke without fire.

"But, of course, if you are a manager and you are getting generous expenses far and ahead of what was supposed to be and you are getting paid, then the obvious thing to say is that players should be paid as well because that gives you a certain amount of comfort."

Kelly dismissed the €10,000 fee suggested by O'Dwyer, saying such a payment would merely propel the association towards professionalism.

"This is nothing new from Micko," continued Kelly. "It was €5,000 a few years ago and now it is up to 10. Once you start paying the players the figure can double over a period of time.

"What separates the GAA from other sports is the way the fans support their club or county and the loyalty to club or county by players unlike professional sports when there is no loyalty other than to money.

"When people hear players are playing in front of 60,000 people without compensation they are absolutely amazed, but this is what makes the GAA unique.

"I think in the world we live in today, where there is so much greed and everything is based really on money and often this image of loyalty is only a camouflage for greed. We know as an organisation we would not be able to sustain a professional game even if it was desirable."

Regarding the increased demands on players and how it affects career prospects Kelly admitted the GAA has a certain responsibility to ensure they are sufficiently compensated and pointed out he had introduced a player welfare package which increased expenses when he became president.

RTÉ have decided to restore their radio coverage of weekend sport on long wave. Irish people in Britain were upset with RTÉ's earlier decision to stop carrying sport on both medium and long waves at the weekend.