Labour calls for investment in football
- Labour Private Members’ Motion on July 12th in the Dáil will call for:
- Investment in infrastructure
- Greater focus on gender equality
- Introduce football programme at Transition Year
Labour sports spokesperson Mark Wall has urged greater investment in the Beautiful Game.
On July 12th, the Labour Party will put down a Private Members’ Motion in the Dáil calling for increased funding for a game that has been historically underinvested in in Ireland.
Senator Wall said:
“On July 12th during Labour’s Private Members’ Time in the Dáil, we will ask Government to back the FAI’s strategy to revitalise Irish soccer.
“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.
“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. This watershed report calls for external support to make a vision for a thriving football industry in Ireland, and Labour is calling on Government to take action now.
“If Labour’s plans are acted on, we could turn football into a major industry here in Ireland, and could have Champions League football here in 15 years.
“Football has been outside the political love circle for some time. Other codes have done an awful lot better. What the FAI are legitimately pointing out is the deficit in infrastructure within the game, grassroots, LOI, international and it won’t be cheap to fix. The time for complaining about the state of Irish football is over, it’s time to support it, invest in it and grow it.
“Labour’s motion will ask for political support for the FAI report, support for the game to be more integrated into the education system and talk about centralised contracts for female players to stay in the league.”