Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Labour Party for tabling the motion. When I think of grassroots football, one of the first people that comes to my mind is Aidan Herlihy from Togher, or Gaffer as he is known to everyone. Gaffer is my stepson's coach at Pearse Celtic FC. He has given incredible service to grassroots football and the community in Togher. He set up a schoolboy section for the first time in Pearse Celtic. He set up Football for All in the club. Sadly, in the past week, Ann Herlihy, Gaffer's mam, died. She gave countless hours in support of Pearse Celtic, including washing football gear. Her son-in-law, Gary, her daughter, Lorraine, and her grandchildren are all involved. I thank the Herlihy family for services to the community and to say our thoughts are with them at this time.

People such as Gaffer and the Herlihy family are the very essence of grassroots football in the community. The goal and the focus is not glory or professional leagues, although they are important, but making sure young people and people generally have a chance to participate, to be active and to enjoy themselves and make a community stronger. The football population in Ireland cannot be equated with many of the facilities, especially for the women's game and at underage level. When I was a teenager playing with Everton AFC, we used to get changed in repurposed shipping containers. While progress has been made in many places, including in my community in Togher, unfortunately, there are still too many places where there are ramshackle facilities or no changing facilities.

Having to own their own premises is a serious obstacle to football clubs seeking sports capital grants. We need to look at the sports capital grants. I know local authorities can apply for municipal facilities but that is very much the local authority's decision. There needs to be some avenue for communities to be able to push the local authority to apply on their behalf. Attendances for the League of Ireland are very encouraging, reflecting the work that clubs have done. The fact is for far too long the league has been neglected and undervalued, including by the FAI. This needs to be a major focus for investment.

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