Labour calls Dáil debate on football, urging support for ‘underfunded’ sport

The Labour Party has put down a Private Members’ Motion in the Dáil on July 12th, calling for increased investment in a game which it said has been historically underfunded in Ireland.

On Monday, Labour sports spokesman Senator Mark Wall recruited RTÉ football analyst and coach Lisa Fallon, Shamrock Rovers’ Roberto Lopes, former chairman of Drogheda United Conor Hoey and general secretary of the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland Stephen McGuinness to back the party’s call for fresh money.

Mr McGuinness said the physical facilities that are currently in place in the League of Ireland had not been improved since the early 1990s. While that might take five to ten years to improve, he said “what needs to happen right now is investment in the game at academy coaching level”.

“We have 20 professional women players now, it needs to be 200,” he added.

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He said: “On July 12th we have a debate, thanks be to god ... We have a real opportunity to get behind the game and I hope we all grab it”.

Ms Fallon also spoke of the lack of facilities for women in the sport. She said in playing about 300 matches she had encountered only one ground – the Aviva Stadium – where there was a women’s toilet and showers. She said increased interest in football would result in “a tsunami of girls” coming to the game and “I just hope we are ready for it”.

Mr Lopes said he had great times with Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers but when he was young he could not envisage a full-time job as a footballer. The Irish-born player now has a 52 week contract and it has given him an “opportunity to play international football” for Cape Verde, where his father is from but “this came really late in my life”, when he was 28.

Mr Hoey said the reality was that most football clubs are not sustainable financially. He said most were dependent on investors. Another issue was that stadiums, which were badly needed, were restricted to one team and one sport. He said sharing was more sustainable.

Senator Wall said “the FAI published a report earlier this month calling for an investment requirement of €863 million over a 15-year period to address deficits in facilities and structures”.

Calling on the Government to take action to support a “thriving football industry” in Ireland, he added: “Football is the number one participation team sport in Ireland, according to Sports Ireland, yet it has been massively underinvested in for years.

“Labour want to change that in all sections from grassroots clubs to League of Ireland clubs and the international teams.”