Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to hear it. The club has been waiting a long time. The completion of a new stadium, finally, is vitally important to ensure football can continue as best it can in the club.

Despite underinvestment, we have managed to produce many brilliant soccer players, such as Séamus Coleman from my hometown of Killybegs. However, these players are forced to move abroad to further their careers in football. It is obvious that Ireland's football facilities have fallen behind those of our European counterparts. Some 55% of clubs in Ireland do not own their facilities and must rely on leases, which makes it very difficult for clubs to develop. It is clear there are not enough facilities to cater for everyone. The first to miss out are women and girls. We need to address the lack of pitches, including all-weather pitches. Clubs like St. Catherine's FC in Killybegs provide football for boys and girls of all ages from Glencolmcille to Portnoo. There are far too many teams relying on just one pitch that often gets waterlogged and must be closed for repairs. This also causes issues with funding, with many teams in the one area in search of funding from a small pool of people and businesses. In the case of my club, St. Catherine's FC, the pitch has continually had to be closed for repairs, which means the club has to go looking for alternative pitches on which the young people can play. It is just not acceptable at this stage.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to secure sponsorship, on which clubs heavily rely. It is completely unacceptable that 38% of clubs are not able to offer female toilets. We have seen a surge of interest in the Irish team, whose members will compete in the Women's World Cup this summer. It is the first time Ireland has reached the competition, which is fantastic to see. We need to make sure girls and women are given the appropriate facilities and opportunities to be able to develop as players in Ireland. Irish player Amber Barrett, another fantastic footballer from Donegal, believes an important issue to address is the drop-off of interest in sport among teenage girls. We must ensure there is full media coverage of women's games. I hope the Women's World Cup will be covered to the same extent as is the men's competition. Amber Barrett has stated: "When something is on TV, we all take notice, so recognising the need for women's sport to be more visible has really helped". She went on to say: "[T]he more success we see in women's sport, and the more female coaches involved, the more it will improve."

I am glad this motion addresses some of the gender equality issues. However, an issue it overlooks is disability access. We should be doing all we can to make football and other sports are far more accessible for the disabled community. At the moment, facilities and pitches are not suitable for those with disabilities. This is a real shame. I welcome that the FAI now has five full-time staff with responsibility for facilitating a clear pathway to cater for players with various disabilities, as provided for under the Football For All programme. However, far more is needed, particularly in rural communities. Looking at the Football For All clubs map, one sees that most of the midlands and north-west soccer clubs are left out of the programme. There are only two clubs in Donegal that facilitate Football For All, namely, Buncrana Hearts FC and Letterkenny Rovers FC. The latter is located more than 70 km from Killybegs. This leaves out the entire disabled community in south-west Donegal. Northern Ireland seems to be addressing the needs of its disabled community far better than we are through its Disability Football development strategy. This may be another of many reasons we should be pushing for an all-island league. We can learn from what is being done in Northern Ireland. We need to ensure better opportunities for our rural and disabled communities. I urge the Government to give consideration to that for the future.

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