Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not apologise for the sentiments behind it because there are a lot of League of Ireland supporters and football supporters out there who are really angry about what is happening. I am not going to get into reports or finger-pointing because I will respect what the Chairman asked me not to say at the start of the meeting, but we have a situation where Irish football is on the brink in terms of its future. We are reliant on an organisation that has proved it cannot operate with due diligence to be the guardian and saviour of Irish football.

I do not want to see a situation where the FAI is liquidated. I do not think anyone in the room wants to see it. The consequences are too great to comprehend at present. I am starting to come to the belief that if we are serious about protecting the future of Irish football we may end up with a scenario whereby the FAI goes into examination. While it is in examinership an alternative structure could be put in place to take it back out examination. If that were to happen, it would require financing and possibly State financing. That the only way we will protect the national teams and the leagues as well as grassroots football. It is the only way it can be done. If it is liquidated under the articles of UEFA, the domestic leagues and the national teams will be gone. They will all be gone.

Whatever our opinion of the FAI and its management structure, we cannot allow a situation where the FAI is liquidated because the consequences are unbearable to think about. If it goes into examinership, somebody has to step in and we must be preparing for that eventuality now. It might never happen but I do not want to wake up and find that the FAI has gone into examinership and we are not prepared to take it back out and protect Irish football. That is the responsibility of the Minister, all of us and football fans throughout this country. We need to start preparing for that.

I welcome the announcement of the 60 regional development officers that will be put in place. There might be a misunderstanding about how this operates. Those officers provide the coaching, they do not answer the phones or organise schools to compete in programmes. Who is going to do all of that if we are not funding it? We can provide the funding for development officers who will provide the coaching but if there is no one organising soccer schools and kits to be delivered, how does it work?