Calls by Opposition parties in the Dáil for the Republic of Ireland’s upcoming football matches against Israel not to go ahead will be met with Government countermotions insisting it has no role in organising sports fixtures.The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said on Monday that a decision on potentially moving the home leg of the Nations League game against Israel to a neutral venue will not be made until after the women’s team World Cup qualifier against France on Tuesday evening. There is to be a further FAI statement issued after the board meets again on Thursday.A Sinn Féin motion calling for the matches against Israel not to go ahead was to be debated on Tuesday evening. Party leader Mary Lou McDonald has said “moving the game does not resolve the issue” and “these fixtures should not proceed while the genocide in Gaza continues”. She said the Government must provide “clear political leadership” on the matter. Meanwhile the Social Democrats will be proceeding with a Dáil motion on Wednesday that calls on the Government to advocate for Israel to be excluded from all sporting competitions while “the genocide and illegal occupation of Palestinian territory continues”.The Cabinet signed off on a plan to table counter motions to both Opposition motions. This is being done, according to a Government statement, as national governing bodies of sport like the FAI “are independent, autonomous bodies responsible for the governance of their own sports, including the organisation of sporting fixtures”.The statement also said: “The Government and Sport Ireland have no role in determining or supporting the organisation of such fixtures.” Meanwhile, Ministers were also briefed on the FAI’s engagement with football authorities in Norway, Israel and Palestine on the upcoming matches. [ FAI and Government warned of judicial review over football fixtures with IsraelOpens in new window ]Norway hosted a match against Israel in Oslo last year and played the away leg of its World Cup qualifiers against Israel in Hungary. The Cabinet was told the FAI was in touch with the Norwegian football association to see if any learnings from its experience could be applied to preparations for Ireland’s home leg of the fixture. Ministers also heard that the Israeli Football Association told the FAI it does not expect a significant number of Israeli fans to travel to Ireland for the fixture, should it be held in Dublin. The FAI was also said to be engaging with the Palestinian Football Association “to gather its views on how to prepare for the match”.Elsewhere, Labour leader Ivana Bacik said the public want the Government to “take a stand against the normalisation of genocide through sport” and to stop the game against Israel “from going ahead anywhere in the world”.Taoiseach Micheál Martin responded in the Dáil, saying that under FAI, Uefa and Fifa rules “national football governance bodies must act independently and be free of political interference”.He rejected calls for Government intervention in the match and said “a series of countries have actually been suspended from international competition in the past because of political interference. That’s the reality of it.”Martin agreed, however, at EU level “we should be dealing in a more robust and stronger way in terms of suspending the EU-Israeli trade association agreement”.