The alleged incident occurred before Shamrock Rovers match with Dundalk in February
Stadium pitch staff suspended
Three council staff members responsible for maintaining the pitch at Tallaght Stadium have been suspended after a complaint it was watered during heavy rain in February, which led to the first Shamrock Rovers fixture of the year being postponed.
It’s understood that South Dublin County Council are investigating the complaint that the pitch was allegedly watered ahead of a fixture between Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk on Friday, February 6, which was then postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Watering on the pitch was allegedly carried out ahead of the fixture despite record-breaking levels of rainfall that week, during the wettest February in Dublin on record.
Tallaght Stadium is owned by SDCC and typically maintained by members of the council’s Public Realm department, with Shamrock Rovers as the anchor tenants.
It’s understood the club complained to SDCC about the pitch following a review of CCTV footage.
The council have now engaged private contractors to maintain the pitch instead while the investigation is ongoing.
However, this has led to a separate action by union representatives for the Public Realm team, who say that other staff members should have been redeployed to take over the maintenance, not private contractors.
This dispute was brought before the Workplace Relations Commission on Friday, March 13, for mediation but no resolution was reached.
Jimmy Quinn, a SIPTU representative for the council’s Public Realm staff, said that there was “no willingness” from senior council staff to work with them on the matter.
“That work has always been done by public realm staff, but they told us they couldn’t redeploy them for various reasons,” he told The Echo.
He said that despite an offer from SIPTU to have their members work with the contractors, the council “insisted that while the investigation was going on, the contractors would remain in situ in the stadium for the foreseeable future”.
This matter has now been referred to the Labour Court.
An FAI spokesperson said that the League of Ireland “are currently reviewing a complaint received in relation to the postponement of Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division on Friday, February 6, 2026”.
“Upon receipt of this complaint, the League of Ireland has engaged with Tallaght Stadium and Shamrock Rovers and will provide further information if appropriate after this process” they said in a statement to The Echo.
South Dublin County Council were also approached for comment but said they had none to “issue on this matter at this time”.
The fixture between Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk was rescheduled and played at Tallaght Stadium on Monday, February 23, with a 1-1 result.
