{"id":492546,"date":"2026-06-10T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/492546\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T14:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:00:11","slug":"ireland-should-not-play-against-genocidal-regime-says-td-and-former-league-of-ireland-player-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/492546\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland should not play against \u2018genocidal regime\u2019, says TD and former League of Ireland player \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland should not be playing soccer \u201cagainst a genocidal regime\u201d, former League of Ireland<\/a> player and TD Daniel Ennis<\/a> has told the D\u00e1il in the intensifying row over Ireland\u2019s upcoming Nations League fixtures against Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new Social Democrats<\/a> TD said choosing to play any fixture against the Israeli state is \u201ca political decision because for Israel, this isn\u2019t about football. It\u2019s about keeping their reputation clean\u201d. He said \u201cfor them, it\u2019s more than the game and it is more than a game for us too\u201d.<\/p>\n

In his maiden speech, the Dublin Central<\/a> TD \u2013 who previously played professional soccer for Shelbourne, Bray Wanderers and Bohemians \u2013 said \u201csport has always been a place of beauty, friendship, inclusion, and most important, of respect\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSport is more than just a game but it only works when it is grounded in respect,\u201d he said, adding the Government has shown a \u201ccomplete lack of respect\u201d when they \u201cinsist we should play against Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSharing that pitch is sharing respect with not just the Israeli team, but with a genocidal regime\u201d, he said of the match in September in the Aviva Stadium and return fixture in Israel in October.<\/p>\n

Ennis said the Government has placed \u201call responsibility on the shoulders of athletes\u201d. He believed the athletes \u201crepresenting this country at international level, are some of bravest we have\u201d and it should not be \u201ctheir responsibility to make choices like this. This is a decision for our Government and our governing bodies\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old TD was speaking during a debate on the party\u2019s private members\u2019 motion which \u201cseeks to ask this Government to advocate for the exclusion of Israel from all international sporting competitions and to support Irish sporting bodies who are asked to compete in competitions where Israel has not been excluded\u201d.<\/p>\n

Minister of State Timmy Dooley warned, however, the motion \u201crisks isolating not only Irish soccer but the entire Irish sporting ecosystem, making our sports and sports people, merely an appendage of Irish foreign policy, and entirely dependent on financing from Government\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Government to insist it has no role in sports fixtures in response to calls to stop Ireland-Israel gamesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He insisted national sporting bodies, including the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), \u201care independent autonomous bodies responsible for the governance of their own sports, including the organisation of sporting fixtures\u201d whether domestic or international.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a fact that we cannot ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FansFans protest with a boycott banner and Palestinian flags during an international friendly match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Amid speculation Ireland\u2019s home fixture may be held on neutral territory, he said An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na has confirmed it was prepared to police the home game at Lansdowne Road, pointing out that under Uefa rules \u201chome legs and fixtures cannot be played in another jurisdiction unless concerns are raised about the capacity for the fixture to be held securely and safely\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking later, Minister of State for Sport Charlie McConalogue said the Government \u201cbelieves that the most effective and impactful way to deal with Israel actions is at European Union level\u201d.<\/p>\n

After comments about the expulsion of Russia from international sport, the Minister said there was EU unity on Russia but not on Israel.<\/p>\n

McConalogue reiterated his comments during the debate on the Sinn F\u00e9in D\u00e1il motion on the same issue on Tuesday night that the Government and Sport Ireland have no role in determining or supporting the organisation of such fixtures.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0FAI understood to have settled on moving Ireland v Israel to neutral venueOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Introducing the motion, Social Democrats sports spokeswoman Sin\u00e9ad Gibney said there was a \u201cgrowing sentiment in society, that this is not okay, that we cannot stand alongside Israel in a sporting fixture of this nature, and allow that to be a sports-washing exercise for the ongoing genocide in Israel in Gaza, in the West Bank, and in Lebanon\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gibney said there were so many things the Government could do to support the FAI \u201cin pushing back against Uefa on their failure to exclude Israel from this competition\u201d. <\/p>\n

She added: \u201cYou can inoculate the FAI from any potential sanctions that may come their way. You can support them in all of the fall out that that may come about from any such exclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Government can interact with governments of countries involved in the Nations League \u201cso that we have a united approach. That is what boycott is\u201d. <\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in TD Pat Buckley told the Government \u201cyou just don\u2019t have the balls to stand up to genocide\u201d.<\/p>\n

Votes on the Social Democrats and Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s motions to \u201cstop the game\u201d will take place on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland should not be playing soccer \u201cagainst a genocidal regime\u201d, former League of Ireland player and TD Daniel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15049,13446,61,60,3410,43,1419],"class_list":["post-492546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dail-eireann","tag-football-association-of-ireland-fai","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-social-democrats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492546","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=492546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}