Dublin South West TD, Seán Crowe, has welcomed the overnight deal hammered out between the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (PFAI), representing the Irish Woman’s Football Team, and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).

Crowe said the allegations of neglect and poor treatment of the Irish senior women’s football team were totally unacceptable, disappointing in the extreme, and has shocked many loyal Irish soccer fans.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“I suppose like many other Irish football fans I woke up this morning with a sigh of relief to hear that a deal had been hammered out between the PFAI and FAI, regarding the pay and conditions for members of Ireland’s senior women’s football team.

“Like many trade union members I am still shocked to hear that the top echelons of sporting organisations blankly refuse to recognise or negotiate with players or their representative in organisations like the PFAI.

“What we heard this week about the women’s team lack of pay and work related downtime conditions came as a complete shock. What members of the women’s national team have had to experience, combined with their treatment off the field, should not be happening in any sport.

“For these women to be forced to the point where they believe a strike is the best recourse of action is unprecedented and it is clearly a very serious situation indeed.

“The disregard and lack of respect for our national team sends out a totally wrong message and acts as a disincentive to all those young people, and particularly young girls, who dream of playing football or some other sport for Ireland. Surely we should be encouraging and nurturing those dreams not turning potential off.

“The idea that a representative of a senior international football team would have to share a team tracksuit and change in toilets at airports after supposedly being given a ‘loan’ of a team tracksuit, as was claimed, has infuriated and stunned Irish fans.

“The bottom line has to be that we need to encourage equality and participation in sports, enabling all players to reconcile their family and professional sporting life.

“I welcome that an agreement has been made on this matter but this latest controversy should act as a spur to bring about fairness, inclusivity, and gender equality in all sports.”

ENDS