Dublin Central TDs Gary Gannon and Marie Sherlock have said that more needs to be done to improve Ireland’s grassroots football.
During a Dáil debate on the issue on Wednesday (April 15) both government and opposition parties were in agreement that the recent positive momentum surrounding Irish football at a domestic and international level needs to continue.
Social Democrats TD Gannon said, “it is more difficult to launch pitches in an urban city centre environment because the clubs do not have the space. They do not have the space from public land. They do not have the long-term leases by which they could avail of the sports capital grant.”
“That is a structural failure that has huge consequences. I have raised in the Chamber on any number of occasions that kids in the north and south inner city of Dublin have literally nowhere to play an 11-a-side football game.”
“While ministers are very quick to go cut ribbons, they are not so quick to show up when things are a little more difficult,” he remarked.
He said, “it is more difficult to launch pitches in an urban city centre environment because the clubs do not have the space. They do not have the space from public land. They do not have the long-term leases by which they could avail of the sports capital grant”
Gannon noted that, per capita, Dublin received only €26.50 per person under the sports capital grant, in contrast to the national average of €54 per person and counties like Leitrim, which are very deserving, get over €100 per person from the sports capital grant.
“Dublin city, the place where Troy Parrott learned to play sports and where we have any number of national heroes, does not have an 11-a-side football pitch,” Gannon noted.
“We really need to look at how we allocate the sports capital grant and give more weighting to clubs that do not have the capacity to own their own land or have leases, or even moreso, invest in municipal facilities,” he said.
Labour TD Sherlock noted that local football leagues are in “catch-up” mode after a string of postponed fixtures in January and February owing to bad weather.
“There were teams that could not play because of the rain; this was a cruel reminder of how poorly served boys and girls in this city and beyond are because of a lack of playing facilities such as all-weather pitches,” she said.
Sherlock said the capital sports programme funding is “badly designed” and is tilted towards rural clubs instead of urban clubs.
“I know of one club, namely Drumcondra AFC, which has a very proud tradition and which is more than 100 years old. That club had to partner with a private sports club and a school in order to put forward a sports capital funding application in the most recent funding round. Those involved applied for €200,000 to convert defunct tennis courts into all-weather soccer pitches for their teams.
Sherlock explained that the club received approximately half of what they requested in their funding application.
As a result of the funding, the private sports club withdrew its co-operation.
“As a community, we do not have those all-weather soccer pitches now. When I rang Killarney and said that this was a problem because the private club got funding for one purpose and is using it for another, I was told: “That’s the way it is.”
Sherlock said the system “needs to change” and the funding loopholes need to be addressed.
“If clubs are being allocated money for specific purposes, it needs to be used for such purposes. We need to overhaul the way in which that funding is used in order that clubs, particularly those in disadvantaged communities, get the benefits they need,” she said.