Euro 2028 hosting
Deputy Ó Ríordáin welcomes the likely Ireland-UK hosting of Euro 2028 but warns that Irish football facilities are poor. The Taoiseach agrees it would benefit football and UK-Ireland relations, and says he will discuss stadium preparations with the Prime Minister.
The Labour Party believes that football is one of the most effective anti-poverty, anti-racism and anti-addiction tools we have at our disposal. This morning we understand that Türkiye has withdrawn from the proposed hosting of the 2028 European Championships and that Ireland and the UK will now host this tournament in 2028. Many football people in Ireland, however, will not celebrate this decision because, as the Taoiseach may be aware, the level of facilities we have in Ireland is very poor. For example, 38% of clubs cannot even provide basic facilities for girls' teams and week in week out we have underage games being called off because of the poor facilities in the country. Does the Taoiseach not feel this is potentially a huge distraction in terms of football infrastructure in this country? Will the Taoiseach give a commitment that it is the underage game, the League of Ireland and the domestic game that needs the infrastructure and the investment, and that the hosting of a tournament should not distract Government or the Minister from that end goal?
Comment on this
I agree with the Deputy's sentiments but I do not believe that these two things are in conflict or should be in conflict. We learned today that Türkiye has withdrawn its bid. This means we anticipate that next week - in fact on budget day - UEFA will formally announce that the UK and Ireland will host the 2028 tournament. This is going to be great for football. It is going to be great for the country. It is a good thing for UK-Ireland relations and this is something I will discuss with the Prime Minister when we meet in Granada tomorrow.
The two stadiums we need are the Aviva stadium, which is pretty much built already and will not require a huge amount of additional work, and crucially we need Casement Park in Belfast. We are in discussions with the Ulster GAA council and also the British Government as to how we can make a contribution to the cost of building that new stadium, which I believe we should.
With regard to other facilities such as local clubs and also the League of Ireland clubs we have a sports capital programme and applications are open for that at the moment. We also have the large-scale investment in sports scheme. Both of those options are open for the clubs to apply to.