Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As spokesperson for sport for Fianna Fáil in the Seanad it is sad to hear the confirmation this morning, which we were expecting, that the UEFA European Championship games scheduled for Dublin will now not take place and instead will move to St. Petersburg and Wembley instead.

On that theme of sport, we were engulfed in a furore this week with the proposals for a super league in soccer which, by all accounts, was just another play thing for a few American and Italian billionaires and a Russian oligarch, with some Arabs thrown in. What was most pitiful to see was the impact on the ordinary fans in England who were despondent that their national sport was being taken away from them.

We can contrast that greed with the positive news yesterday that €40 million in funding is being pumped into sport, not just in the main sports but 50 other smaller sports bodies also. However, in some way the threat to sport as we saw in England was highlighted by Kerry GAA legend and RTÉ analyst, Tomás Ó Sé, this morning who warned that the professional training load placed on our national GAA sports stars is unsustainable, not just for inter-county stars but ordinary club players who are now expected to train to professional levels. The running of the GAA and its games is a matter solely for it but the political classes across the water took their eye off their game and then had to scramble at the last minute to try to deal with what was happening. In terms of context, what happens in the sporting arena resonates across all our society. There is a drive towards the professionalism of our national sport. It may be by default but it is heading that way. We saw it even during the Covid lockdowns. Managers were bringing teams out to train despite the warnings because they wanted to get that edge. This is indicative of that. Tomás Ó Sé called it out this morning and warned that players are expected to go to work or to college and then train like professional sports people but they are clearly are not.

Sport is rarely discussed in these Chambers unless it is politicians standing up to congratulate sports stars despite the fact that it is equally as important as many other topics and resonates across the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in this country. I call on the Leader to invite the Minister with responsibility for sport to come to the Chamber for a full debate on this and many other issues pertaining to sporting matters.