THE UK and Irish governments will be asked to assess unique IP addresses for Northern Ireland residents in a bid to circumvent controversial geo-blocking issues around sports broadcasting.

The SDLP’s Claire Hanna has tabled a question for UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy and the party will do the same to Ireland’s Minister of State for Sport, Thomas Byrne.

In the question tabled to parliament, it asks if Ms Nandy’s 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.”

Many viewers in the north have been left frustrated over several years at being unable to access sports content from RTÉ because of the nature of broadcasting agreements, particularly around sport.

Most northern residents have default IP addresses that are UK-registered, meaning their access to Irish sporting events is often restricted.

Sports broadcasting contracts such as those for the recent Olympic Games are usually sold on a country-by-country basis.

Fans in the north were left frustrated during the Paris Games at being unable to watch RTÉ’s coverage, leaving them unable to see Irish athletes on terrestrial television unless their events were being covered by the BBC.

There was further controversy when RTÉ One’s main news bulletins were blocked during the Games, only for that decision to be quickly reversed amid the outcry.

Republic of Ireland soccer matches and coverage of Ireland’s international rugby games on RTÉ are also subject to geo-blocking, which is when broadcasters are contractually obligated to block their coverage to anyone outside their jurisdiction.

Any UK broadcaster holding rights to events such as World Cups in either sport or the Six Nations can mean that the ability for northern residents to watch Irish teams in action is often restricted and in some cases can only be bypassed by paying for subscription channels.

The broadcasters have found themselves bearing the brunt of the criticism but the nature of the contractual agreements means the real issue lies with the internet service providers (ISP), who provide IP addresses.

Northern residents can contact their ISP and ask to be registered as living on the island of Ireland, although that in turns restricts their ability to see sporting events from BBC, ITV and other UK broadcasters.

Read more: Northern blackout on Ireland’s Olympic success impinges on our right to feel Irish – Cahair O’Kane’s piece back in August first suggested unique IP addresses for the north