Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Well done, Aodhán, fantastic speech on the day that is in it.

We in the Labour Party are bringing forward this motion very much on purpose. Our ladies are going to the World Cup and we all wish them well and give them our support. It is also an opportunity for us to focus on this sport which is across every part of Ireland yet does not have the support, facilities or engagement that it should have. We are proposing that an increase in the betting levy, given the amount of gambling on football that unfortunately goes on, would help to fund the programme that is being put forward by the FAI.

I want to raise a few issues as somebody who supports many soccer clubs in my constituency and county. My daughter captained the first underage girls' soccer team for Arra Rovers in our village to their very first win. I have skin in the game. I look at the likes of them and my local club that has no facilities. They are trying to buy somewhere at the moment and I am trying to help them. Nenagh Celtic is a club in my home town which comes from very much working-class areas and has a long history. It has no facilities. There are hundreds of examples my colleagues will go through as well. This is not sustainable. It is unfair, wrong and discriminatory. Football is a very inclusive sport. People who work in it on the ground work very hard to bring people with them, for many of the reasons Deputy Ó Ríordáin eloquently outlined. We need to support them. There are thousands of clubs around the country that simply do not have the facilities such as boys' and girls' changing facilities. They are changing in cars. It is completely unacceptable.

When Sport Ireland was before the Committee of Public Accounts recently, I asked about this FAI plan. The chief executive had no opinion. This is a real issue. Sport Ireland said it was ambitious because I pressed it but it had no opinion. We need to change Sport Ireland. It should be the regulator but it is not. Sport Ireland issues policy guidelines but it has no power as regards directing investment into facilities like the FAI report. Sport Ireland does not decide capital sports grants. It has direction over policy and guidance but when it comes, dare I say it, to the sexy capital funding requirement, that is still with the Department. There is no joined-up thinking or long-term vision. The implementation of this plan from the FAI, which the Minister should support, should be brought through Sport Ireland as a full-time regulator as should all other sporting codes. The role of Sport Ireland should be changed to reflect that. We need to look again at the sports capital application process to ensure we can get a wider amount going out to various soccer clubs around the country.

I want to focus on two more things. The impact of Brexit on the future of young players coming through is quite dramatic as they have to stay in Ireland until they are 18 years of age. That has changed a lot for players who would have otherwise gone across the water to Britain. We need to look again at how we grow and keep these players into the future. The success of the International Rugby Experience in Limerick is something I am very much taken by. Given the history we have when it comes to football and everything my colleague, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, outlined so eloquently, it is time we put in place a plan for such a museum here in the heart of Dublin to show our history and bring people along with our tradition as regards football as well.

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