extratime.com 2024 general election sporting manifesto review

The country goes to the polls this week and the electorate will get to have their say on the make-up of the 34^th Dáil on Friday.

The election manifestos have all been published with the usual sections included on health, housing and finance. However, football has also found a home in most manifestos too, along with plans for more investment in sporting infrastructure, changes to the sports betting levy and cross-border sporting competitions.

Just like we did for the 2020 election (see here), extratime.com has taken a look at each of the party’s manifestos. We have looked at the sections on sport and noted what each party is committing to that relates to football.

Fianna Fáil

• Increase capital funds to develop multi-sport facilities in communities that can be shared by various local sports clubs.
• Create a Next Generation Fund to support soccer academies.
• Increase the Betting Tax Levy from 2% to 3%, with a portion of the additional yield to be allocated for the development of sports infrastructure.
• Strengthen efforts to seek business and philanthropic funding for high-performance port to complement state funding.
• Support Euro 2028 to ensure that it leaves a positive legacy in terms of both promoting Ireland and developing active participation in sports.

Sinn Féin

• Developing a National Sports Facilities Strategy and increasing funding for the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund with an additional capital injection of €55m.
• Rolling out a Euro 2028 Advance Legacy Fund of €50m and supporting the development of the League of Ireland with additional annual funding of €10m for grassroots football. 
• Increasing core funding for sport’s national governing bodies and local sports partnerships by €1.5m.
• Increasing the Betting Tax Levy by 1%, raising €49m. 

Fine Gael

• Maintain strong financial support for Sports Capital schemes.
• Expand Cross-Border Sport: Increase cross-border sporting initiatives, including soccer, while protecting the roles of governing bodies.
• Expand Large Scale Sporting Infrastructure Fund: Support National Governing Bodies with state-led funding for large-scale projects.
• Support UEFA Euro 2028: Ensure Ireland is fully prepared to host and benefit from this major event.
• One club ethos: Work with all sporting organisations to promote a ‘one club’ ethos, encompassing male and female participants and promoting equality of access to sporting facilities.

Green Party 

• Develop sporting infrastructure that is accessible for all and work to improve access to sporting infrastructure for those with disabilities via the Changing Places and other schemes.
• Prioritise the participation of women and girls in sport through targeted investment and by supporting media coverage for women’s sports. 

Labour

• Introduce a 1% increase in the Betting Levy to fund new multi-sport facilities alongside a dedicated focus on grassroots and League of Ireland football.
• Work with the FAI to roll out an ambitious facility investment vision and strategy, providing significant investment from the grassroots to international levels. 
• Develop our domestic league and implement an ambitious programme that ensures our football players can forge careers in Ireland, including centralised contracts for young women and men that would support them to stay in the game in Ireland for a minimum of three years, and education scholarships to build links between the League of Ireland and third-level educational institutes. 
• Expand football as a transition year subject countrywide and develop a football academy structure. 
• Provide a portion of broadcast revenues to League of Ireland clubs and undertake a programme of national promotion for the game. 
• Work with the Northern Irish Executive to consider the feasibility of an all-island football league. 

Social Democrats

• Phase out state funding to the greyhound racing industry.
• Plan for pitches and sports facilities to be incorporated into each major planning application, Local Area Plan and all other development projects.

People before Profit

• Increase funding by 50% for sports and recreation projects and services. Actively work with the key public sports programme providers, such as Sport Ireland and Sport Capital & Equipment Programme, to distribute additional funding to sporting areas that need it the most.
• Ensure that the Football Association of Ireland is appropriately funded to support grassroots clubs.

Aontú

• Aontú believes that sports should be based on fairness and women should be allowed to participate in women only sports.

Note that the parties are listed in this article in order of the seats won at the last general election.

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— extratime.com (@extratime.com) 24 November 2024 at 12:23