Results 9,681-9,700 of 15,510 for speaker:Brendan Griffin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: That is why it is critically important to get the new independent directors in place as soon as possible, along with a new independent CEO. The situation is very grave and the figures are pretty stark.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I just want to clarify that the figure is €62 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I will take the funding question. The youth field sports programme is funding we give to the FAI, and similar sums are given to the Irish Rugby Football Union and the GAA. Such organisations have relatively large incomes compared with those of other national governing bodies of sport, but it is not the only funding we give them. In 2018, for example, which was the most recent round, soccer...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: They are eligible to apply for sports capital funding. However, because other sports are not as widespread and are not represented in every community as the three main field sports are, the field sports tend to get more funding. Another factor is the nature of the sports in terms of pitch maintenance and the requirements for-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: Under the national sports policy, which we launched in July last year, we committed to double funding for sport between 2018 and 2027 and to treble high-performance funding. We are on track to achieve that and it will benefit all sports. There have been substantial increases in funding for sport in the past two budgets and that is reaching all sports. We have 67 national governing bodies,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: As someone who plays both soccer and football, including all summer with my football club, I am a passionate supporter of both sports. I certainly feel there is full fairness in the system of allocations for sports capital and across the board. Those allocations reflect the popularity of the sports but are also responsive to the needs of communities. If we look at the most recent round of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: What part of the facts I have outlined can the Deputy correct? I have given the figures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: The Deputy has said something is rubbish when I have given her the facts. How is it rubbish?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: This is the mantra the Deputy is always spouting, but I have given the facts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: If one looks at RTÉ's exposé, it did not consider all the figures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: Yet the Deputy is quoting a flawed exposé.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I ask the Deputy, through the Chair, to continue, please.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: Under the latest sports capital programme, €1 in every €3 went to disadvantaged areas, or €19 million out of €57 million. It is a long time since Deputy Coppinger was on Fingal County Council.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: Again, I would like to emphasise, as someone who has come from a small club myself, that I know how important even relatively small figures are in terms of funding. That is why I want to emphasise to the committee that it has been incorrectly reported in various media that we are not continuing grants to soccer. We are continuing sports capital grants to individual clubs around the country....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: On the comments relating to UEFA, we are due to meet it shortly and the Senator has raised many of the questions that we will be asking. The image of the FAI and Irish soccer is damaged, although I hope not irreparably. I am conscious of the fact that Irish soccer's image must improve if it is to get out of this situation, given the issue of acquiring sponsorships and other necessary...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I said earlier, in response to Deputy O'Brien, that we must be protective of public moneys. There is a high risk that if we were to give money directly to the FAI, given that KOSI has stated that the moneys were pretty much well accounted for and given the precarious financial situation that the association is in at the moment, we could not guarantee that it would not disappear into a black...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: Sport Ireland has the information. Is it available publicly?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I was very sorry to hear about Limerick FC last week. There is a long and proud tradition of soccer in Limerick. There was so much hope in recent years and the club had been performing well until relatively recently, which compounds it. It is a huge pity. The licence is a matter for the FAI in terms of league participation. I acknowledge the fact that an uneven number in the first...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I would love to give a commitment of the type the Deputy is seeking but we are back to the fundamental question of whether we bail out the FAI. That is the other side of it. Again, there is so much collateral damage and it is very serious. That is one of the risks. It is hypothetical at present and that is why we will meet UEFA and why we will explore all options to see what can be done.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: The point is that because of the overall financial situation, that money could-----