Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have five minutes of injury time. I will do my best with it.

Football is probably one of the most powerful games we have. It is the most effective anti-racism, anti-addiction and anti-poverty tool we have. Traditionally, it has been unloved by the political system. Notwithstanding the importance of the governance issues that have been raised, I am taken by the comments by Sport Ireland and the Department that what has happened at the FAI in the past few years has been transformational.

Two weeks ago the Oireachtas waved through €95 million to the horse and greyhound fund. We do so annually without much discussion. With that in mind, I have three questions. Will Mr. Barrett expand on previous comments he made about the horse and greyhound fund's potential and about the levy on betting to be increased from 2% to 3%, which would be an effective funding stream for the type of ambition the FAI has shown?

I will ask Mr. Ó Lionáin about the sports capital grant from the Department's point of view. It is not fit for purpose. I agree with what Senator Warfield said. It disproportionately benefits clubs and associations that have middle-class members with a middle-class education. A game that is traditionally working class, such as soccer, will not get the same amount of funding. The Department asks the clubs to submit applications rather than asking the local authorities to do an audit of what is needed. It is hard for football clubs, given the areas they come from and the type of children and disadvantaged areas they are dealing with, to compete on the same level. Let us be frank, they often do not have the same level of education or professional backgrounds on their committees as other clubs or codes may have.

On the player pathway, much has been said about Brexit. I was taken with some of the women who flew the Irish flag in the summer and gave us great joy. Many of them played in the league here until recently. Twelve years ago, 70% of the Irish women's national team were based at domestic clubs. Now, two of the players who were involved in the domestic league are no longer playing here. One has retired and the other moved to Glasgow City. Do we not have the potential for some kind of centralised contract scenario where the State, in partnership with the FAI, could produce a number of contracts, as has been done in other codes, to provide a platform for young women in particular to stay here, to grow the game here and be icons in their communities, rather than them having to fulfil their footballing ambitions for pretty meagre money on one-year rolling contracts in the UK?

Those are my three questions. One is on the horse and greyhound fund-----