Louth TD accuses government of missing the net on Football Academies again

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Sport, Joanna Byrne TD, has said the government missed the net again when it comes to adequately funding the future of Irish football.  The Louth TD was speaking after the government announced €3m in funding for football academies.
 
Deputy Byrne said:
 
“The government are trumpeting this as if it’s some sort of seismic shift in funding, but their allocation falls short of the €4.45m requested by the FAI in their pre-budget submission.
 
“They have used the language and reasoning we in Sinn Féin put forward in recent debates, but the government have not followed through with the right amount of money.
 
“At grassroot level the opportunities that were there before Brexit no longer exist.
 Irish players can’t go across the water to a large academy and learn their trades like it used to be done.
 
“Those grassroot players are here, they want to play, they want to learn, they want the opportunity to represent their club and ultimately their country to the very best of their abilities, but without football academies up and down this country, they’ll never reach their full potential.
 
“Some of the significant moments in modern Irish history have been because of football.  Think of Euro 88, Italia 90, USA 94, events that unified everybody in every part of this country, lifted the mood of the population, brought joy and belief in ourselves as a people.

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“If we want to see moments like that again, we need to start the process now.
 
“That is why in our alternative budget we in Sinn Féin have allocated €5m per annum in multi-year funding for Football Academies.  We want to see football properly resourced and funded.  We want to see our youngsters given the very best opportunities to develop their skills and to live up to the best of their potential.
 
“With such a huge amount of money available to spend this year, the government could easily have allocated the right amount, but once again they shot wide of an open goal.”