Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Friday night I was in Tallaght Stadium, where there was a record attendance. I commend South Dublin County Council on the new stand.It is by a huge margin the most developed stadium in the League of Ireland. Yesterday was also an important day for Bohemians and I welcome the news that Dublin City Council has approved planning for Dalymount Park. We need to see funding secured for that build. Will the Minister for sport release the funding for Dalymount Park? We also need to see, in line with the Dublin city development plan, confirmation of Shelbourne's purchase of Tolka Park and support for Richmond Park redevelopment. With the exception of Tallaght Stadium, the League of Ireland infrastructure is not safe, modern, and is not appropriate for football or community use. There has been 20 years of underinvestment in soccer infrastructure at grassroots level and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to own up to the fact that Government policies make it impossible for so many soccer clubs to get capital funding for their infrastructure. Over half of soccer clubs rent their grounds. Half of those leases are for less than one year so that means that 25% of soccer clubs are excluded from applying for Government capital funds. The rules are set up against soccer and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to take their portion of responsibility, right the wrong and start investing in Irish soccer. That starts with Dalymount Park.