Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)

American football is coming to Dublin. Craig Hughes, in his article for the Irish Daily Mail, highlights that the Government will spend €10 million on this event and on bringing over the two American teams. Yet, at the same time, 77% of Irish amateur football clubs do not have adequate changing facilities for women. The Government continues to ignore Irish football because four years ago, the Taoiseach said on radio that he would ensure the Government invested in academy football, yet not one cent has come across since then.The figure of €10 million would be transformative for grassroots and academy football. Before the previous general election, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael included a 1% betting levy increase in their manifestos. After the election, that was dropped and was not included in the programme for Government. When the votes were counted and the two parties returned to Government, they decided to drop that from the programme for Government. That would be a hugely sustainable source of income for football and sports in general. It is a huge miss by the Government.

It is not the first miss by the Government in supporting Irish football; the Brexit adjustment fund was missed by the Government. It would have helped League of Ireland football clubs to access long-term, sustainable funding. A 1% betting levy increase would have taken in nearly €50 million. What would that do for Irish sport? Ireland is at the bottom of the European league in terms of investment in sport. A figure of €50 million would have made a huge difference. It would have been sustainable. It would have funded grassroots academy football and ensured the 67% of Irish clubs that lack suitable women's toilets were able to access funding. Will the Acting Leader invite the Minister to the House to have a debate on funding for Irish football and sports in general?