2026-02-24

I welcome that the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, is here to answer this question. It is a very important issue. I think everyone has seen it or heard about it on the airwaves. A number of us were at the match in Oriel Park on Friday night. I like to make Dundalk FC's home games as much as I possibly can. The Louth derby is something you look forward to. We were there and it was good to have the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, there for the opening of a fabulous pitch with the new lights. It was provided by sports capital funding. It is fair to say that the deposit was paid by the Dundalk FC Supporters Trust, a group of Dundalk fans who have come together to be there in case anything is needed. Dundalk FC has had its issues, as people have seen, over the past number of years. Now we think we are in a fairly positive place. Obviously what happened on Friday night was an absolute disgrace. It needs to be called out. We all welcome that Dundalk FC and Drogheda United are working together. A 12-year-old boy was burnt badly. In saying that, it could have been worse. We know there is nerve damage and facial burns, and his clothes were burnt. He could have literally been up in flames. My thoughts go out to him. I commend the work of the Order of Malta. There was also violence in Clarke Station. The Garda has to be given whatever information there is. From a security point of view, the Garda has to review what needs to be reviewed and what can be improved. Security needs to be looked at. Everybody will tell you - I am sure the Minister of State has heard this before - that the problem is that minors cannot be patted down. Unfortunately, some people will use minors and some minors will attempt to take flares into games. We have all seen flares used. As much as the FAI might have a zero-tolerance approach, people have seen them. They are used for dramatic effect with lots of colour, etc. What was different in this scenario is that it was very organised and flares were used to burn a pitch. This has to be called out. It has brought the issue to a head. It is vital that the Minister is meeting the FAI tomorrow. A solution has to be addressed. There have to be serious consequences. We could be talking about tens of thousands of euro worth of damage. As much as I welcome Drogheda United working with Dundalk FC, there is a necessity for Drogheda United to pay this money. We have to look at means of imposing a penalty. It is hard to call these guys "fans". A small number of them destroy everything for everyone else. It has to become utterly unacceptable. Their own peer group must not accept any element of this in any way. I have to say that the senior Minister, in saying "a plague on all your houses" and stalling or pausing funding for AstroTurf pitches, has not helped. We know that there has been underfunding of the FAI over many years. I do not think it was not helpful in any way. I hope the Minister of State is here to state that that will be rowed back on. I assume there is not a huge number of projects that fall into that bracket. The Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, need to work alongside the FAI and other stakeholders - in this case, Dundalk FC and Drogheda United - to find a real solution to something that is a problem across the League of Ireland, which does not have the money for security that English Premier League teams have.

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for raising this matter. What happened in Oriel Park on Friday evening was an abhorrent and criminal act. It involved taking flares to the stadium, setting them alight and throwing them onto the pitch. It led to a very tragic injury to a young 12-year-old boy. All of our thoughts are with him and his family for his recovery. Our thoughts are also with those who were distressed by what happened on the night. What we saw was criminal damage to a wonderful new facility. We must stamp out that behaviour. I know that the Garda is following up the criminal behaviour that took place on the night. I have no doubt it will do that thoroughly. We must all work to address these unacceptable instances. Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have seen them. It is incumbent on clubs, the FAI, the Government and community and political leaders to work together to achieve that. In that vein, I am disappointed not to see the Sinn Féin spokesperson for sport and Deputy Ó Murchú's constituency colleague, Deputy Joanna Byrne, with him this evening. It is often common practice to do joint Topical Issues. It would have sent out a very strong message if they were both here, one from Dundalk and one from Drogheda, from the same party, and with Deputy Byrne also being the chairperson of Drogheda United, to provide leadership jointly on this issue. Deputy Byrne has made limited enough comments on this matter in the past few days. It would have been very helpful to hear from her tonight that Drogheda United will step up to the responsibility for the cost of repairing the damage to the pitch, as should be the case. What happened marred what should have otherwise been a very positive night. I was glad to visit Oriel Park just the week after Dundalk FC was promoted. They won the First Division and were promoted to the Premier Division. I saw the great pride they took in that wonderful achievement. I discussed with the club that night the fact that their pitch needed to be registered for the Premier Division, and worked with them to make sure that work could be done. It was completed two matches into the season. Dundalk's first two matches were played away from home as a result of time it was taking. It was terrible to see what should have been a great night turn into what happened instead. We have seen great progress. It is a really positive time for the League of Ireland. The Government backs football in Ireland wants to back the development of Irish football and the development of the league. That is why in the most recent budget we committed €3 million to develop academies to support young players and our clubs. We must ensure it is safe for all, in particular families, to attend these games. The announcement by the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, of a pause of funding to all League of Ireland clubs was made with this objective in mind. The decision was the Minister's and announced before consulting me as the Minister of State with responsibility for sport. I agree with him absolutely on the need to come down like a tonne of bricks to stamp out this behaviour. However, I do not believe we should collectively punish all clubs for the criminal behaviour of a small number of people participating in hooliganism. We must come down forcefully on this behaviour. There must be consequences for the people carrying out these acts, and indeed, the responsible club. We must also make sure that clubs that are not responsible are supported and not affected by the recklessness of others. I look forward to meeting with the FAI with the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, tomorrow to ensure that we can find a satisfactory way forward that achieves this objective.

Deputy Byrne has put out a statement. I have spoken to her many times on this. She calls out what was abject criminal activity. Everyone will be aware that Deputy Byrne is the co-chair of Drogheda United. People will also know that she called on the FAI to ensure that Ireland would not play genocidal Israel. On that basis, action has been taken by Drogheda United. That is being dealt with at the minute. It probably limits what Deputy Byrne can speak about, but she has 100% said that this has been an ongoing problem with the League of Ireland. I will tell the Minister of State what she told me on the day. We were both there in Oriel Park. The first thing she was worried about was getting to that child, which was the right thing to do, because she had been contacted by the parents. The next thing she queried was: what do you think is going to happen when I ask about League of Ireland funding, of which there has been a shortage over a number of years? I see this being thrown back as an excuse on why that money would not be spent. It sounds like the Minister of State is not in complete agreement with the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan. The Minister went over the top in saying, "plague on all your houses". I hope what he is doing is a shot across the bow. There is a responsibility on the FAI, League of Ireland and clubs to find a solution to this. All information has to be provided to the Garda but legislative changes that need to considered. The two Ministers would need to do work on that. There are legislative powers in Britain relating to those who would ever consider doing some of the actions that happened in Oriel Park. Regarding families, I agree. I was contacted by one man who I know very well. He said that his daughter said, "I don't want to go to a game ever again." The daughter of another friend of mine, who is even younger, was doing ball girl. He said, "Imagine, she was over there." That is a rethink. That is not good enough. I hope those people will rethink. I hope the Minister, never mind worrying about myself and Deputy Byrne, would worry about the issue and a back track that should happen by him. Money needs to be supplied to the League of Ireland. The Minister of State agreed previously that there has been underinvestment over many years. I welcome this investment. We need to see more. We need to make sure that we work alongside the League of Ireland and the FAI to find a solution.

I absolutely agree with the Deputy that it has been fantastic to see people of all ages and families coming to League of Ireland matches and the growth both in Premier Division and First Division attendances, and indeed, as well as the introduction of a new third tier to the League of Ireland, which will happen imminently. That is something that we want to see encouraged. It is down to the quality of the product on the pitch as well. One of the side effects of Brexit has been that we are seeing our young players staying in the country. It is about the only benefit of Brexit that I can think of. Of course, there is a responsibility on all of us as result to make sure that the pathways are put in place for those young players not only to be able to play within League of Ireland clubs until they are 18 years of age, but also to be supported to be able to become the best players they possibly can and to reach the highest level that they can in that process. That is why the Government on budget day is giving a vote of confidence to Irish football through the investment of €3 million in academies. We must all collectively make sure that it is a safe environment. The Deputy is absolutely right. People will stop going to matches unless this is stamped out. That is our objective here. We want to support football. We want to support the continuing growth of the League of Ireland. We want to support our clubs. We want to ensure that it is a safe environment. We will work with the clubs and FAI as a national governing body to make sure that a satisfactory way forward is achieved that will deliver on that and will ensure the wonderful momentum that we have seen in Irish football and the League of Ireland is continued for the rest of this year, and indeed, into the years ahead.

A successful year for Dundalk FC as well.