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The Republic of Ireland women’s national team should receive the same as the men’s national team, according to Sinn Féin sports spokesperson Chris Andrews.
Earlier this week, the Soccer Associations of Brazil and England announced that they had introduced equal pay for international male and female players.
On Wednesday, RTÉ Sport contacted the FAI to ask if they had plans to do the same, but received no response.
It has been just over three years since the women’s national team held a press conference at Liberty Hall and boycotted the training to highlight their plight, claiming that the FAI treated them as ‘fifth-class citizens’, did not compensate them for the loss of income and even made the players share tracksuits.
Vera Pauw’s team, currently leading in their qualifying group for the European Championship, have seen their conditions improve subsequently, but are still not on an equal footing with Stephen Kenny’s team.
International Aine O’Gorman told RTÉ 2FM’s Game On this week that it is frustrating to have to fight for every little step forward.
“I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I’d like to think that all organizations are going in that direction,” he said. “It’s a huge step and it’s frustrating how much you have to drive and push to get to these milestones in football and sports.”
Dublin Bay South TD Andrews said he would be writing to the FAI seeking the establishment of equal pay.
“This week we saw the progressive movement from both the Brazilian Federation and the English Federation that male and female footballers will receive the same amount to represent their national teams,” he said.
“They join a handful of nations around the world that have enacted pay parity for international male and female footballers.
“The FAI has the opportunity to put Ireland at the forefront of gender equality across the EU.
“I will write to the FAI asking for equal pay be established for female footballers representing the national team.
“To develop greater participation of women in sport, equal pay and support when representing their country must be a fundamental principle.”
Australia, Norway and New Zealand are among the nations that previously decided to pay their male and female internationals the same amount.
In March 2019, the United States women’s team, the current world champion, sued their federation, alleging discrimination based on salary and conditions.
A judge dismissed his case in May this year, but the team appealed.
The FAI is currently in the process of hiring a new permanent Executive Director to fill the position vacated by John Delaney in 2019, with the President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland and Swim Ireland Executive Director Sarah Keane the chief candidate.
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