Sports Events
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07
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Mark Ward (SF), Dublin Mid-West

Let us get real here. The Minister of State is ducking any responsibility. If the Government opposed Ireland playing Israel in an international soccer match, the FAI would follow suit. Yesterday a campaign was launched to stop the game between Ireland and Israel. An open letter was signed by many people in Irish soccer, including Brian Kerr, Joe Redmond, Pico Lopez, Louise Quinn and Roddy Collins as well as people outside soccer, including Christy Moore, Senator Frances Black, Kneecap and the Fontaines DC. I am a season ticket holder for the FAI. As a basic human being, I will not attend that match.
Last year, the FAI passed a motion to suspend Israel from UEFA competitions. The Government and the FAI must respect that mandate. The signatories are calling for the game to be stopped on the basis that Israeli teams are playing on occupied Palestinian land and that Israel has a brutal system of apartheid and has committed acts of genocide. The Government accepts that Israel is an apartheid state and is committing acts of genocide. It is inconceivable that the Irish Government is willing to stay silent on this matter while these crimes are going on in the name of football.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07