{"id":301101,"date":"2026-02-16T16:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/301101\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:16:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:16:06","slug":"ireland-will-play-home-match-against-israel-at-neutral-venue-government-figures-suggest-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/301101\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland will play home match against Israel at neutral venue, Government figures suggest \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senior figures in Government have suggested it is likely that the Republic of Ireland<\/a>\u2019s home fixture against Israel<\/a>, scheduled for October 4th, will be played at a neutral venue outside the country. <\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s position is that the game is a matter for the FAI<\/a>, though both the Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin and the T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said over the weekend that they believed the fixture should go ahead.<\/p>\n

However, two people with knowledge of the issue who spoke on condition of anonymity said they expected that the game would go ahead at a neutral venue, though each stressed that no decision has been made.<\/p>\n

The Government says that the fixture is a matter for the FAI, which is an autonomous body, and it has no role in the matter. But there is an acceptance that the issue is likely to remain on the political radar, given strong public feelings about Gaza<\/a>. In addition, An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na is reported to have raised concerns about policing the fixture.<\/p>\n

The FAI said it would fulfil the fixture but has not said whether it will be played in Dublin or at a neutral venue.<\/p>\n

The Republic of Ireland team is due to play Israel home and away in the Uefa Nations League in late September and early October.<\/p>\n

Yesterday the T\u00e1naiste said that Ireland needed to \u201cdecouple\u201d opposition to Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza from \u201csport and decisions made by sporting bodies\u201d.<\/p>\n

Harris was speaking to RT\u00c9 after the Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald urged the FAI to give Israel \u201cthe red card\u201d and not fulfil its fixtures against Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actual person that would end up getting the red card or the country here would be Ireland,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to think this thing through here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Harris said that everyone shared \u201ca general disgust at the actions in the Middle East and the genocidal situation in Gaza\u201d but suggested that failing to play the game would \u201cdisadvantage\u201d the Irish soccer team and \u201cwouldn\u2019t have any effect at all on Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think in this situation, it\u2019s actually the Irish soccer team that would be losing out,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think we have to have that sort of perspective in relation to this, and we need to get behind our Irish soccer team.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday Minister of State Marian Harkin said she believed the fixtures between Ireland and Israel should not go ahead, a position in conflict with the Government\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Harkin said she was expressing a \u201cpersonal view\u201d.<\/p>\n

Harkin initially said it was \u201cvery challenging when sport overlaps with politics\u201d, and her view was \u201cthat it\u2019s up to the FAI to decide about the fixture\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, when pressed she said: \u201cI think that, personally, I wouldn\u2019t go to it, and personally, if I were deciding \u2013 I\u2019m not the FAI, I\u2019m not Uefa, I\u2019m not the Taoiseach, this is my personal view \u2013 yes \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t agree that it should go ahead.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the T\u00e1naiste also said he expected that the Government would be \u201cmaking progress\u201d on the Occupied Territories Bill<\/a> \u201cthis year\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would push back on the idea, respectfully, that nothing has happened,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a complex area. We want to make sure that anything we do here can withstand legal scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the Government was \u201cnot in the business of performative legislation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want legislation that will stand up to scrutiny. The Minister is actively engaging with the Attorney General on his legal advice, and she\u2019ll shortly update the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee\u201d. <\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee<\/a> previously said that passing the Bill was \u201ca priority\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senior figures in Government have suggested it is likely that the Republic of Ireland\u2019s home fixture against Israel,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,3410,29336,1843,59269,1842,70,3415,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-301101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-marian-harkin","12":"tag-micheal-martin","13":"tag-nations-league","14":"tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","15":"tag-simon-harris","16":"tag-sinn-fein","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}