I welcome the opportunity to speak on these statements. I am a lifelong football fan. I am wearing a Bohs jersey. I am a supporter, a season ticket holder and a member there. The work they do not just on the pitch but also in communities is second to none. I played a fair bit of football. In truth, it was an experience to change on the side of a pitch. Pitches were a set of goals, and a pitch marked out on a flat piece of agricultural land. Sometimes, it was not flat. We often had to clear dung off the pitch before a game. In the late 2000s, I played in the top division in Meath and Louth. We could not use our home pitch for games because it was just not up to standard, like so many others in the competitive league. In our case, our home pitch was where a decent farmer had let us use his land,. There were no changing rooms or any other facilities. That was the reality. While it is better now, there are still many clubs in Meath, Louth and across the State that do not have anywhere near appropriate facilities. The standard of coaching has progressed light years from where it was. There are players from Meath, men and women, boys and girls, who are making progress like never before. All you have to do is look at the national team, the League of Ireland and elsewhere. Players who hail from Meath are right up there. The interest and the talent are there, but they are being let down by a lack of facilities, a lack of resourcing and a lack of investment. The Minister of State has to invest, particularly for our youngsters, both boys and girls, and in our academies. By any reasonable measure, he is coming up way short. We are light years behind. Croatia is a reasonable comparator. It has 190 full-time academy staff whereas we have just ten. I ask the Minister of State to please invest in academies. They are the places our future internationals learn their trade but they are being short-changed. The Government allocated just €3 million compared with an ask of €4.45 million. My final message is on Ireland versus Israel and Israel versus Ireland. Netanyahu is a war criminal. His regime is genocidal. We cannot facilitate this attempt at sportswashing. Stop the game.

Sentiment score: 0.09