merrion street

Arising out of a number of hypothetical questions raised at today’s meeting with the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport, Minister Shane Ross, T.D. and Minister of State Brendan Griffin, T.D. wish to clarify matters around the future of the League of Ireland in the event that the FAI’s financial situation should deteriorate further.

The Ministers are enormously concerned about the future of the League of Ireland, the 300 players, 300 support staff and its supporters. In light of this week’s revelations about the state of the FAI’s finances, a number of new scenarios have been raised.

The Ministers understand that the insolvency of a national football federation in Europe would be an unprecedented situation and thus it is not completely clear what implications this would have for the relevant national league and consequently international teams.

It is the understanding of the Department that if the national association failed, the national league would be impacted and would cease to exist in its current format.  However, we understand that League of Ireland clubs would be in a position to rebound quickly and fulfil fixtures if such a failure were to occur in the FAI. In that case, it would avoid a scenario where national teams would be precluded from international competition, provided a replacement national federation would be in place.

The Ministers are seeking to clarify this matter with UEFA in advance of their upcoming meeting next month.  The Ministers recognise the need to have certainty around this point as a matter of urgency and hope that it will be possible for UEFA to provide certainty for the players and support staff employed by the League of Ireland clubs.

The Ministers have asked Sport Ireland to arrange a meeting with representatives of the League of Ireland clubs and players in advance of the meeting with UEFA to hear their concerns and it is hoped that that meeting will be scheduled in the coming days.