Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a pity we will not be at the Euros but we will enjoy the football nonetheless. The Government is fully committed to supporting the development of football in Ireland. There will be an announcement of a record allocation of sports capital grants in the next number of months by the Minister, Deputy Martin, and the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne. Football will be a major beneficiary of that. I know we have had a memorandum of understanding between the FAI and the Government. My understanding is that there is not one in place at this time but the discussions have been under way. They need to be concluded so we can put in place longer term arrangements for funding because we have extraordinary talent. I see it every weekend in the young boys and girls at the matches I go to. We have fantastic academies in our League of Ireland clubs. They need greater support and funding but the key to unlocking that is to have an MOU in place. We need to get that memorandum agreed so the Deputy might use his influence to help us in that regard.

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