Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Approximately 170,000 people participate in soccer every week, yet the funding it receives does not compare with that for other sports. It receives €2.9 million, despite almost 200,000 people playing. Greyhound racing receives €16 million, while white-water rafting will receive €22 million from the taxpayer through Dublin City Council. The allocation to soccer, however, has been low. Nobody suggests the FAI should be allowed to carry on in its practices, but people want to be assured that support will continue for grassroots football, such as the League of Ireland and people who play the sport every day. It is critical, not least for obesity levels and so on.

The Minister will meet SIPTU later. The trade union and the workers were whistleblowers in respect of what was happening at the FAI for a long time. In April, I read an article in which Mr. Conway contradicted SIPTU and stated its claims that the company was bankrupt were unfounded. At that time, therefore, the workers were aware of the state of the accounts but were publicly cut across by leading people at the FAI. Will the State guarantee job security for the workers, who took pay cuts while their bosses enjoyed themselves, and will their jobs be safeguarded in the interest of providing ongoing development of the sport?

Has the Schoolboys Football Association of Ireland, SFAI, yet accounted for the €50,000 it spent to hire a corporate box at the Aviva Stadium? Was that public money and, if so, is it the case that such an organisation can move money from one place to another before receiving it again? Hiring a corporate box for schoolboy football is the most bizarre financial transaction one could imagine.