Ireland should not be playing soccer “against a genocidal regime”, former League of Ireland player and TD Daniel Ennis has told the Dáil in the intensifying row over Ireland’s upcoming Nations League fixtures against Israel.The new Social Democrats TD said choosing to play any fixture against the Israeli state is “a political decision because for Israel, this isn’t about football. It’s about keeping their reputation clean”. He said “for them, it’s more than the game and it is more than a game for us too”.In his maiden speech, the Dublin Central TD – who previously played professional soccer for Shelbourne, Bray Wanderers and Bohemians – said “sport has always been a place of beauty, friendship, inclusion, and most important, of respect”.“Sport is more than just a game but it only works when it is grounded in respect,” he said, adding the Government has shown a “complete lack of respect” when they “insist we should play against Israel”.“Sharing that pitch is sharing respect with not just the Israeli team, but with a genocidal regime”, he said of the match in September in the Aviva Stadium and return fixture in Israel in October.Ennis said the Government has placed “all responsibility on the shoulders of athletes”. He believed the athletes “representing this country at international level, are some of bravest we have” and it should not be “their responsibility to make choices like this. This is a decision for our Government and our governing bodies”.The 38-year-old TD was speaking during a debate on the party’s private members’ motion which “seeks to ask this Government to advocate for the exclusion of Israel from all international sporting competitions and to support Irish sporting bodies who are asked to compete in competitions where Israel has not been excluded”.Minister of State Timmy Dooley warned, however, the motion “risks isolating not only Irish soccer but the entire Irish sporting ecosystem, making our sports and sports people, merely an appendage of Irish foreign policy, and entirely dependent on financing from Government”.[ Government to insist it has no role in sports fixtures in response to calls to stop Ireland-Israel gamesOpens in new window ]He insisted national sporting bodies, including the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), “are independent autonomous bodies responsible for the governance of their own sports, including the organisation of sporting fixtures” whether domestic or international.“That’s a fact that we cannot ignore.”Fans protest with a boycott banner and Palestinian flags during an international friendly match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire Amid speculation Ireland’s home fixture may be held on neutral territory, he said An Garda Síochána has confirmed it was prepared to police the home game at Lansdowne Road, pointing out that under Uefa rules “home legs and fixtures cannot be played in another jurisdiction unless concerns are raised about the capacity for the fixture to be held securely and safely”.Speaking later, Minister of State for Sport Charlie McConalogue said the Government “believes that the most effective and impactful way to deal with Israel actions is at European Union level”.After comments about the expulsion of Russia from international sport, the Minister said there was EU unity on Russia but not on Israel.McConalogue reiterated his comments during the debate on the Sinn Féin Dáil motion on the same issue on Tuesday night that the Government and Sport Ireland have no role in determining or supporting the organisation of such fixtures.[ FAI understood to have settled on moving Ireland v Israel to neutral venueOpens in new window ]Introducing the motion, Social Democrats sports spokeswoman Sinéad Gibney said there was a “growing sentiment in society, that this is not okay, that we cannot stand alongside Israel in a sporting fixture of this nature, and allow that to be a sports-washing exercise for the ongoing genocide in Israel in Gaza, in the West Bank, and in Lebanon”.Gibney said there were so many things the Government could do to support the FAI “in pushing back against Uefa on their failure to exclude Israel from this competition”. She added: “You can inoculate the FAI from any potential sanctions that may come their way. You can support them in all of the fall out that that may come about from any such exclusion.”The Government can interact with governments of countries involved in the Nations League “so that we have a united approach. That is what boycott is”. Sinn Féin TD Pat Buckley told the Government “you just don’t have the balls to stand up to genocide”.Votes on the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin’s motions to “stop the game” will take place on Wednesday evening.