Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin and the Labour Party for tabling the motion. The Deputy's contribution showed his passionate for the subject. This is an interesting, timely and important motion.

I will lay out my stall. Football has meant the world to me. I benefited massively from its properties and I ardently want all others, young kids in particular but older people too, to have the same opportunities to play the game in a structured and safe environment surrounded by people who want them to do well, be that in the game or in life.

In speaking in support of the motion and the funding aspect that comes with it, which is important and substantial, I do not aspire for the conclusion of that to be having an amazing national team competing for trophies or even for the League of Ireland to continue to develop in the manner it undoubtedly has through the past decade. All that will come. I just want the State to facilitate all kids being able play football on fantastic and accessible pitches that are local to them, with changing rooms that afford dignity to all who play the game. I want all kids, regardless of their proficiency in the sport or the capacity of their parents to pay or to have time to do the drop-offs and pick-ups which often create great pressure, to be able to access the game. I want all those kids and young people to have great mentors and role models who are accredited to a high standard to coach them in the game they have chosen. Those roles can be careers or just how a person makes his or her contribution locally but all coaches should all have a minimum standard of certification enabled in collaboration with the FAI and the State. In so doing, we need to move a million miles from the ridiculous scenario that existed in the past in footballing circles, when children between the ages of ten and 13 were identified as being more or less talented than their peers and treated as such. With this investment, it should be mandated that all kids have the potential for greatness and that it will arrive in its own time and form. An investment such as the figure requested in the motion must be viewed as a societal investment that will undoubtedly benefit society first and football thereafter.

Many politicians or people who are getting a little older often talk about being the first in their families to go to college or university. I do so almost too regularly. By way of taking the legs out from under me, one of my three brothers will come forward to acknowledge that I am the only one in my family who has never represented the country at underage level. I recognise that one of the primary reasons I got that opportunity, and probably the reason I am here today speaking in our national Parliament, is how lucky I was to have been part of the footballing family that is Sheriff YC for more than 15 years. Stephen Dunleavy is in the Public Gallery representing the club, as his father, Brian, did for decades before him.

I had planned to speak about the Icelandic model, with which most Deputies present are familiar. Loosely, it is a national programme to confront substance misuse among young people. It had a profoundly positive effect socially and nationally on the game in Iceland. It was about investment in young people and giving them access to culture, sport and other truths as a way of lowering consumption and use. After what happened in Tallaght last night, however, when Shamrock Rovers were beaten by an Icelandic team, I have decided to move away from that completely in order not to cause offence. Rather, I will highlight the fact that there are clubs the length and breadth of the country that have been pursuing that model for decades, just without the aid of State support. The Icelandic model could equally be called the Sheriff YC model or the East Wall Bessborough FC model. I see Daniel in the Public Gallery, who is taking great strides in developing East Wall Bessborough, as his father, the late Geoff, did before him. He did amazing things for that club. John from Belvedere FC is in the Public Gallery, too. It could also be said of Finglas Celtic FC and Sacred Heart FC. These are young clubs in working class areas and they have been far more than football clubs to those who have benefited from being part of their teams. They have become quasi-counsellors. They step in to provide emotional support. They aid the parents of children who are stepping into difficulty. That is what football has done. It is a universal game that penetrates more than what happens between the lines on a Saturday morning. It is all-encompassing.

I hope colleagues will allow me to be a little indulgent and speak on my experience in that regard. I mentioned being part of Sheriff YC as a young person. I never would have got that opportunity when I was seven years of age if it was not for a coach named Liam Nolan, who must have been incredibly young at the time. He would finish his job down at the docks, walk up and collect me from my home in Summerhill, walk me back down to Sheriff Street and then walk me back home after training. It was because of the contribution the late Liam Nolan made that I was able to go on and get all the discipline that comes with being a part of a sporting club such as Sheriff YC. After that, I had coaches like Willo White, who welcomed me and others into his family. They were the first people to bring us on holidays and overseas. I had Paul Ryan, a great mentor and friend, as a coach. By God, if we showed up on a Saturday morning looking in any way glassy-eyed, Paul was the person of whom we were terrified. I got to play for the club for more than 12 years and during that time we had other great coaches and role models. Linda Gorman was inducted into the FAI hall of fame last year. They are the type of role models and mentors I experienced but I know other young people the length and breadth of the country have similar coaches, and it matters. It matters more than anything.

As regards facilities, I read the FAI report. It is a good and worthwhile vision for the future. It refers to having central hubs equivalent to St. George's Park in England, but it also refers to having local hubs. There is a vision from Belvedere and East Wall Bessborough, and from Sheriff YC separately on the other side of the pitch, for such a hub to be developed on the Alfie Byrne Road site, just outside my constituency of Dublin Central. Within the north inner city, which I am proud to represent, there is no 11-a-side football pitch. There has not been one there for a very long time. There is Grangegorman, which charges €190 a session to use its pitches. Every Saturday and Sunday morning and twice during the week, hundreds of kids gather with their families to play on a pitch on the Alfie Byrne Road site, near Clontarf, that is unsuitable and not accessible. Daniel Ennis often talks about a horrendous experience there a couple of months ago which motivates him. A person in a wheelchair showed up to watch his kid playing football but was not able to access the pitch because he could not drive the wheelchair through the grass. That is a horrendous state of affairs. I am happy to support this investment but the benefactors of it must be communities, clubs such as East Wall Bessborough, Belvedere and the families that show up every weekend to bring their kids to play football.

Football is a universal language. The Minister rightly pointed out there are other sports, and I appreciate that. However, if one thinks of the new communities that have come to Ireland in recent decades and from which we have benefited massively, every one of them speaks a singular language and that is football. There are other sports but they have more access to cultural capital that enable them to fill out the large forms that come with sporting infrastructure grants and sports capital grants. That is evidenced when one sees the facilities some rugby or hockey clubs have and compare them to the facilities football or boxing clubs have. It is very different. If we get football right, the benefits to society as a whole will be massive.

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