Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

In this House we are well used to hearing congratulatory statements from all quarters about the achievements of our sporting sides who wear the green. I am a particular fan of ladies football, soccer, Gaelic and rugby. I spend a good bit of my time supporting my local team, Shelbourne Ladies FC, which tends to win various domestic titles, as well as in its previous guise as Raheny United. What happened this morning at a press conference in Liberty Hall should appal every sports fan in this country.

It is not just an issue of gender equality; it is more an issue of workers' rights and representative rights than anything else. Effectively, the entire Irish senior women's soccer team was forced into a situation where the players had to hold a press conference at 10.30 a.m. at Liberty Hall to demand action on their rights as individuals. They are simply demanding they should have representative rights from the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland, which League of Ireland players have and which the senior men's team have but the FAI is not allowing this.

Some of the instances they outlined today were quite simply appalling. These are people who wear the green of this country in stadiums all over the world. They are not even allowed to have their own tracksuits. They have to share the tracksuits with the under-19s so they have to assemble at Dublin Airport to go abroad to play for their country and they have to change into their tracksuits in the public toilets. This is unbelievable.

I respectfully suggest that the Minister could come in here and address this issue. In fairness to him, he is somebody who has spoken out of the need for gender equality on sporting boards. He is somebody who has a very deep interest in gender equality. This is not just a case of gender equality; this is about representation of a bunch of elite sports people who want to represent their country and are out of pocket because in Ireland, a person who is not a professional footballer because he or she plays in the domestic league here will lose a day's pay by going to play for his or her country.

It is unbelievable that after many years of having behind-the-scenes grumbling about the situation, they were obliged to come together this morning in Liberty Hall to speak about their grievances. If we in this House are serious about congratulating our Irish men and women who go across the world and wear the green with pride, we should all collectively be embarrassed that an Irish team would have to change in the public toilets of Dublin Airport to get into tracksuits which are not even their own.

I ask respectfully if we could ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to come into the House because we give these people money. It is State funding - taxpayers' money - that funds the FAI and if it is not going to properly look after elite sports people in that organisation, then we have to seriously reassess our relationship with that body. I am appalled and I ask that the Leader facilitates that debate.