Focus on football in Dáil during Leader’s Questions ahead of Prague match

By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association

Ireland’s upcoming match against Czechia was raised repeatedly in the Dáil during Leaders’ Questions, with the Social Democrats’ Gary Gannon using the fixture to highlight a lack of facilities in inner-city Dublin.

In a rare bout of harmony during the session, Government and Opposition leaders joined together to wish the Irish team luck ahead of their match in Prague on Thursday.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said he “hoped the lads can do the business tonight”, but said it was “wrong” that “so many people in the north” would not be able to watch the match free-to-air because it is geoblocked and said the Government needs to “urgently address” this issue.

Simon Harris said: “At a time of real challenge in our country and in our world, of turmoil and uncertainty, the Irish team have really lifted our spirits.

“There is a real sense of belief, from the youngest to the oldest person in the country, that Ireland can do this.”

Speaking on behalf of Labour, Conor Sheehan wished “Troy Parrott and all the boys in green best of luck tonight”.

The Social Democrats’ Gary Gannon started with wishing the team luck before continuing: “One of the players carrying the hopes of the nation on his back tonight is Troy Parrott.”

He described how the footballer grew up in “the heart of Dublin’s North inner city” in an area which has “produced extraordinary sporting talent, not because of what the state has provided, but in spite of what it has not”.

He added: “There is not a single full-size football pitch available to children in Dublin’s inner city, north or south.”

He said the Irish Sports Monitor, a survey which measures sports participation in Ireland, shows “a 19-point gap between higher and lower socioeconomic groups” which has not moved in two years.

Dublin receives €26.50 per person from the Sports Capital Programme, Gannon said, which is half the national average.

The programme is the main way the government supports the development of sports facilities and helps clubs and organisations buy equipment.

Gannon said this disparity between Dublin and the rest of the country was because, in order to access funding for capital projects through the programme, organisations need to own their own land or hold a 21-year lease.

He said: “The communities that already have facilities to get more and the communities that have nothing remain locked out.

“That’s exactly why golf clubs in this state apply at exactly three times the rate of boxing clubs, not because golf matters more, but because golf clubs and the likes have the cultural capital to access the system.”

The Tánaiste said Gannon’s concern about the lack of a full-size pitch available to children in the inner city is “very valid” and “very real”.

Harris said a new round of funding would open “in the coming weeks” and said he would “certainly be up to the challenge” of trying to bridge some of the funding gaps raised by Mr Gannon.

He also said the Government could “do more through sports funding” to target disadvantaged communities in both rural and urban areas.