Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is clear that we want to support football. We made a special effort to reach out to football clubs and get them to apply for sports capital grants. I did that and I know the Senator did so locally as well. I wanted to do this because I want to see clubs benefit from the fund. We will do the same when we open the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF, which is very important.

I have made clear that if the 40% target is not met, there will be serious consequences. That is something on which the FAI and a number of other sports organisations need to reflect. We have made significant progress on that requirement, with 39% of directors now female. Given that it should be 40%, we are almost there. In fairness to the GAA, it has made the administrative change. It has not yet implemented it but it is on the way. The Irish Athletic Boxing Association had scheduled a meeting for last weekend, which did not go ahead but will take place this weekend. I strongly encourage it to do so as well.

What will happen, unfortunately, is that when we announce sports equipment grants, hopefully in the new year, any national governing body that does not have 40% gender balance will only be awarded 50% of the grant. Probably a more accurate way of putting it is that it will be able to draw down only 50% of what it has been awarded.

We want football to succeed. There has been massive investment in the sport, with significant investment, for example, in Tallaght Stadium, which should be acknowledged, and in Finn Harps. The latter was a difficult project which we have pushed over the line. We are waiting on the FAI to get back to us on the issue but we want to see it go ahead. A number of other projects have come to us outlining general plans for the future.

I visited a number of football clubs recently. I have been with Drogheda United and Sligo Rovers and I have an invitation to meet Shamrock Rovers, which I will be more than happy to do. I visited Shelbourne in Tolka Park as well. These are places I have been long before I was ever in politics. I am familiar with this issue as a supporter of the FAI and the sport. To be honest, like Senator Cassells, I spend every weekend at sports games, between soccer and football. I can certainly be described as a grassroots supporter.

We want to make sure the FAI gets everything right, and it has got most things right. If it does that, funding can continue. I look forward to discussions in the coming months.

Regarding the report, I apologise to the Cathaoirleach but there is a very important point to make on the MOU. When this issue came to my desk, I realised it would be a matter of considerable public controversy. For this reason, I decided the best thing to do would be to get a report on overall compliance with the MOU. It is absolutely essential we publish that. This was a public issue when it first arose and it still is. To be fair to everybody, we should see progress but also the work that still has to be done. The oversight in this case, as the Senator mentioned, appears to have been very effective. I thank my colleagues in Sport Ireland and the officials in the Department in that regard.