In the long history of this Dáil there have only been two debates on football. This is the second, and the first was in 2023, put forward by the Labour Party. This debate is only happening because of a request from the Labour Party to put football front and centre in terms of much-needed funding. Our colleague, Deputy Ged Nash, is convening a cross-party group on football in the coming weeks, which we hope will have input from Members on all sides, to push the agenda of grassroots League of Ireland men’s and women’s football throughout this country. That is how important the Labour Party believes football to be. When these statements were originally scheduled a couple of weeks ago, the Ireland men’s team was two games away from the type of summer that many young people have never experienced and would never forget. However, there is still a bright future ahead for our men’s team. There is a huge, bright future for our women’s team. Luckily - I say luckily because it is not as a result of support from the State - we have the most vibrant and exciting offering in all sport on this island, namely the League of Ireland, which runs right through the summer. Again, it is hampered from investing in itself by the rules of funding and schemes such as the large scale sports infrastructure fund, LSIF, which is very difficult for a League of Ireland club to avail of in relation to upfront funding costs. We need to invest in our stadiums in order to harness, attract and increase the numbers of people, some 1.1 million, who came through the turnstiles last year. The League of Ireland needs the support of Government, a change in the funding model and real commitment. What was really revealing was the response of the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, a few weeks ago to the scenes in Oriel Park. Funding, such as it is, for the League of Ireland and football in this country seems to be hung and swung over the heads of those in the football community by this Government. They have to meet a bar that is so high that even a slight digression will result in the withholding of funding and support. That is just not on. It is unsustainable and proves to the football community in this country that it does not have the full support of the State. It is a feeling the football community has had forever. Those in that community have always been the poor men and poor women of Irish sport in the context of structured funding. An independent audit completed last year found that youth football facilities in Ireland lag well behind those in another countries. Of youth facilities in the 100 countries surveyed, those here were ranked 51st by FIFA, football's world governing body. Only 4% of our clubs here have a full-time head of coaching. This compares with 46% in associations of equivalent rank. No League of Ireland club has a minimum of four full-time academy coaches. In the aforementioned FIFA-ranked countries, the figure is 36%. I ask the Minister of State to work with the FAI, grassroots clubs and the League of Ireland. They have pulled themselves up without structured help from the State to provide the best offering of sport in this country. They need further support.

Sentiment score: 0.20