Spending the Apple money

IN ALL FAIRNESS

A lot of the political commentary in the coming weeks will be about the budget, and whether it will herald a winter general election.

The timing of the Apple ruling whereby the computer giant must pay over €14 billion to in back-taxes in Ireland couldn’t have come at the worst time in many ways for the current government as every sector of society will be looking to get their share of the windfall, and sport is no different.

It might be too soon to see an immediate impact of the Apple money as much of the budgetary decisions will have been made before the ruling from Europe two weeks ago, but there are positive indications that Semple Stadium in Thurles will get financial support through the governments Large Scale Infrastructural Fund for badly needed upgrades to the iconic venue.

At the July meeting of Tipperary County Board, two letters of correspondence were received from Cork supporters regarding the state of the toilets at the venue for the Munster Championship game against Tipperary in May. There is no doubt that is one of a number of aspects in which Semple Stadium needs an injection of funds for a facelift in to retain its place as the GAA’s designated second stadium after Croke Park, particularly with the quality of the playing service and credit to head groundsman Padhraic Greene from Moneygall who has the pitch in as good a shape as it has ever been judging on the recent county senior hurling quarter finals. This was despite a difficult winter where the pitch was damaged badly and was forced to close for a period.

The cost over-runs on the redevelopment of Pairc Ui Chaoimh might have been controversial but there is no doubt that the Cork venue is a modern venue and will start to impact Thurles’ ability to get big games if it isn’t up to the standard of what supporters require. Indeed, Pairc Ui Chaoimh might get improved further if it is successful in getting the Euro 2028 games that won’t now be held in Belfast due to the lack of progress on the development of Casement Park.

There’s no doubt that sporting facilities in this country need to be better than they are, in all sports. Soccer, particularly, have been shouting at anyone that can listen to them about an investment in the game to try and stop the decline of the fortunes of the senior men’s international team.

Unlike the GAA and rugby whose clubs developed facilities impressively in recent decades, many soccer clubs didn’t follow suit. Locally, the likes of Nenagh AFC, Ballymackey and Moneygall have gone against the grain and showed what can be done when clubs, even at junior level, put their minds to it. They put many of the League of Ireland clubs to shame in terms of facilities, many of whom still play in decrepit grounds, despite its spike in popularity, and there will come a time when that growth will stall unless the capacities are increased and that requires investment, and that will also benefit the women’s game which is the good news story when it comes to soccer in this country at the moment.

Speaking of local soccer, Nenagh Celtic don't have a home at the moment but with the North Tipperary Showgrounds idle for 362 days of the year, surely an accomodation could be reached to have a home for a local team and also get better usage from a prime facility.

Off the back of a successful Olympic Games, this is a good time to double-down on the investment in sport, not just because of the good news stories it might bring at the highest level, but also providing facilities for people to train and enjoy at an every day level.

Swimming hasn’t enjoyed the popularity as it does now following the performances of Daniel Wiffen, Mona McSharry and Roisin Ni Riain in Paris, and this is an relatively easy sport to build on if more 50-metre pools are built, starting with one in Cork where a club has one of the artificial ones similar to the one built in Paris, all it needs is a location to put it in.

Rowing is another Olympic sport that is thriving so while not make Skibbereen and international hub while athletics is enjoying the limelight once more, and it would be great to see a proper out-door track here in Nenagh, either adjacent to the indoor stadium or the development of a proper surface at the Nenagh CBS track.

Sport will get its share of the so-called “Apple money” but it comes secondary to areas such as health, education and security, all of which can be improved on but with a background of sport, there will be more healthier, rounded, and better behaved people in society which might take the pressure off doctors, nurses, teachers and Gardai in the long term but long term planning isn’t something we tend to be good at in this country.