We all know that grassroots soccer in the League of Ireland is severely underfunded, particularly in regard to facilities, infrastructure and academies in comparison with other countries such as Croatia. Countries smaller than Ireland boast of having 190 full-time club academy staff in comparison to Ireland's ten. Our budget for League of Ireland academies is comparable to those of Andorra or San Marino, which are very small. Our clubs cater for the youth of Ireland and therefore need proper supports. It all starts at grassroots level. I am thinking of so many fantastic grassroots clubs in my area, such as Gorey Rangers, Gorey Celtic, Arklow United, Arklow Celtic and Arklow Town. There is huge demand for places in these clubs but they lack pitch space. There are also Courtown Hibs, Carnew FC and Camolin Celtic. There is a really good club at Avonmore FC in Rathdrum. There are also Aughrim Rangers, Coolboy Rangers and Killenagh Wanderers. We also have Ferns United, Tombrack United and Shillelagh United. There are also other clubs in the south, including St. Joseph's AFC in Kilmuckridge, Bunclody FC and St. Cormac's AFC in Boolavogue. Wexford schoolboys represented Ireland in the Gallini Cup last week. This was a great achievement for Ireland. All the fundraising was local with no support through statutory funding. These are all fantastic clubs that need greater Government support and investment in facilities, including clubhouses, pitches and AstroTurf. This is an investment in our youth. Sport is crucial, as we know, for people's mental and physical well-being. I will support any application by such clubs in the upcoming round of sports capital funding, which will be coming after the summer. As a country we owe massive credit to the management and many trainers in all of these local clubs, the ticket sellers, those who fundraise, those who get pitches ready, those who fill the bottles and those who give lifts. The fabric of Ireland is held together by an army of volunteers who give of their time so selflessly. The Government really needs to up its game in this regard and match the public support with proper funding for facilities as we see in other European countries. We need to see far more project support through the large-scale sport infrastructure fund. We see €400 million committed to projects related to the Ryder Cup in Adare. I am not knocking it but the Government's attitude towards the working-class sport of soccer is another story and this needs to change.

Sentiment score: 0.21