Ireland to move Israel match out of Dublin as boycott row intensifies

The Republic of Ireland’s home UEFA Nations League fixture with Israel is likely to be moved to a neutral venue.

The match, scheduled for 4 October, will switch from Aviva Stadium to a neutral ground – pending UEFA approval – with a venue in Hungary considered a likely alternative.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) board of directors met last week to discuss the matches, with particular focus on the game at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on 4 October. A second meeting was held on Monday, where a decision was reached.

The FAI will now ask UEFA to approve such a move.

The FAI said that it was “the responsibility of the Board of the FAI to protect the future interests of football in Ireland” and that any decision around the game is “solely a matter for the association”.

Government leaders, meanwhile, were due to meet this evening to discuss their stance on the games ahead of two Dáil motions this week.

Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats are using their Dáil time to call on the Coalition to boycott and not support the fixtures, and both parties confirmed their intentions to press ahead with their respective motions despite the latest developments.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said, “Our motion supports the Stop the Game campaign – the call is quite clear for the game not to proceed in Ireland or anywhere.

“There is no support for our national team to play, under our tricolour, against Israel while there is a genocide ongoing,” she said.

Social Democrats’ spokesperson on sport Sinéad Gibney said, “Moving the fixture is an attempt to brush this under the rug – and will deny the Irish people an opportunity to engage in peaceful protest,” said the Dublin Rathdown TD.

She said: “It also doesn’t change the fact that this game should not be played. Ireland should not be facilitating the sportswashing of a nation which has been committing war crimes for nearly three years.

“I am also very concerned about the pressure that this decision will put on players, and I would again appeal to the government and the FAI to intervene.”

Those behind the ‘Stop the Game’ campaign say they will continue to push for the Ireland-Israel matches not to go ahead.

“This shameful cop-out by the FAI will not deter our campaign in the least,” the group said in a statement.

“Moving the fixture to Budapest is no more acceptable than going ahead with the 1981 rugby games against apartheid South Africa would have been had they been moved to a neutral venue.

“Our message for the FAI and government will continue to grow louder: Not here, not anywhere. No game.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said there are significant implications for the Irish team if it does not fulfil the fixture against Israel: “That has been my main concern, that the Irish team does not unduly suffer as a result of anything that may happen.”

He said he fully understood the concerns people have in respect of what is happening in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.

“It is quite horrific, the level of atrocities that are taking place and the continuing subjugation of the people of Gaza in particular, where sufficient aid is not getting to the people.”

The Taoiseach added that they will channel their concerns through the EU, and he has asked for a discussion at the next European Council meeting, including the potential suspension of the Israeli EU trade agreement.

Asked about the match being moved to another country, he said it’s a matter for the two football bodies, UEFA and the FAI.

The Irish manager, Heimir Hallgrimsson, said a decision about the fixtures should be left with the government.

It has now been addressed by the FAI, with a further update on the away match with Israel to come.

That game could take place in the same neutral venue as the planned Dublin match.