Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I acknowledge and welcome Shelbourne's new 250-year lease on its grounds, which is positive and will secure the club's future. I believe it signed the lease yesterday with Dublin City Council. It can develop the way a club of its standing should. It is a great community club. I also want to wish the Irish under-17s, with Colin O'Brien as manager, good luck in the World Cup. Their first game today is against Panama and I wish the team well.

Last month, the Government announced €3 million in funding for the establishment of League of Ireland academies. This was very welcome. It is long overdue and a small step forward. The sad fact is that our international team is a pale shadow of its former self and our domestic league is miles off where it should be and could be if it had the investment it desperately needed over the years. We are simply not able to compete at an international level and are at present incapable of sustainably developing players or clubs from a grassroots level.

We need a seismic shift in funding and a completely new approach to Irish football by the State. Unfortunately, €3 million is not enough. It is a good start, but more has to be committed to. Some €4.5 million was requested by the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, for academies in its pre-budget submission, but this baseline figure was not delivered in the budget. If we want to see the likes of Italia 90 and Euro 88 again, the very basic requirement must be the proper funding and resourcing of our academies.

A significant number of young players are eager and passionate to develop and succeed here and fulfil their potential, but they simply do not have the opportunity or contact hours they need to develop and grow, not to mention a lack of facilities and coaching staff. We have unbelievably good football people in Ireland, along with great sports people and committed volunteers who do Trojan work each and every day to support their communities and Irish football. There is a huge appetite for football in the country. Before practically every international campaign, the nation is filled with hope for the matches ahead and an eagerness to see our boys and girls in green succeed. Too often, however, this hope is let down by the obvious lack of ambition or interest in football by the State going back decades.

The investment compared with other countries competing between positions 50 to 100 shows that we lag way behind in the world rankings. This has resulted in a base of players which is simply not up to scratch compared with other countries of a similar size and stature to Ireland. No change in manager will transform our international team into one capable of qualifying for major tournaments. The reality is that we have to take a systemic and grassroots approach. We cannot sit around and wait for success to magically come our way. We have to invest in the sport at a community level to enable our young players to develop skills and progress through their career.

The key to this is the League of Ireland and its academies, which allow players to engage in football in their own towns and cities and gives them the contact hours and education they need. The league has been long abandoned by the State, with outdated infrastructure and a lack of recognition by broadcasters and policymakers. Its popularity is steadily growing in spite of the challenges, but underfunding remains the primary obstacle to the long-term success of Irish football. I urge the Government to finally recognise the vital importance of the League of Ireland to Irish football and ask the Minister of State to lay out whether the Government has plans to develop the league to meet its potential.

I wish Shamrock Rovers success on Sunday in the FAI cup final, which should be a great occasion. Cork had a poor season, but it is great to see two big clubs in Irish football play in a showcase tournament.