Stop The Game Campaign has initiated legal action against the State for their failure to stop the proposed Ireland v Israel fixtures in September and October 2026. 

Stop The Game Campaign has issued a pre-action letter for judicial review to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), Sport Ireland, the Minister for Sport, and the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration over their collective failure to designate the Irish senior men’s Nations League football fixtures against Israel slated for September and October 2026 as unlawful and stop those fixtures. 

The Campaign has engaged solicitor Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law to issue the pre-action letter for judicial review. The pre-action puts the Ministers, Sport Ireland, and the FAI on notice over their various legal obligations that arise from the decision to allow the games to proceed. 

The legal correspondence asserts that the FAI and Sport Ireland must undertake their own due diligence to ensure that the spending of public funds complies with their domestic human rights obligations. 

Separately, the letter asserts that the Minister for Justice must ensure that the necessary steps are taken to both investigate and refuse entry to any person (player, fan, staff et cetera) that may have committed offences under the Geneva Conventions. 

The FAI, Sport Ireland, and the Ministers have been asked to provide a substantive response within 21 days or the campaign will proceed to issue judicial review proceedings in the High Court in Dublin.

A spokesperson for Stop the Game Campaign said today: 

“The FAI and the Irish government need to respect the call to boycott the game made by the majority of players, fans, and communities across Ireland. 

Ireland should not play against Israel. Doing so legitimises a genocidal regime and gives cover for statute violations, Israeli apartheid, and war crimes.” 

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