Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for the response. He is right that there has been an awful lot of money given over the past number of years to support the FAI and grassroots level in terms of the €30 million.

It is important to note that the people leading the FAI now have, as the Minister of State said, delivered on the memorandum of understanding. Some 98% of that has been completed. They have shown they are willing to commit, once the funding is put in place, on Government suggestions.

There has been a big change since Brexit. Essentially, back in the day, the likes of Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and people like them went to the UK when they were 14 or 15, became great players, played for Ireland and played for great clubs. They had coaching at Spurs, Liverpool and clubs like that – the top-quality, best-in-the-world-type coaching one could get. Now, because of Brexit, players cannot go to the UK until they are 18, which means we have players in Ireland who have been signed for record fees but are still playing in League of Ireland. We have players who are 16 and 17 going to the UK in a year or two but who are still in Ireland now, and they need the same quality of young-age coaching to be at that level when they go over to those clubs to achieve great things in the future for Ireland.