Criticisms facing Qatar's hosting of the 2022 World Cup are being misrepresented by western media according to a local man based in the Middle East.
Qatar's record of human rights violations, limited football history and the local climate have been the souce of major concerns in the west, with reports suggesting up to 15,000 migrant workers died constructing sporting infrastructure over the last number of years.
Athlone native John McNamara works in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, which borders the world cup host country.
Speaking to the Joe Finnegan Show today, the Roscommon Engineer believes that in his experience in the region he has not seen evidence of the reported concern.
"In the Gulf, workers would come from countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India and they would stay in workers accommodation. They would be bussed to the site and they would work there. Our role in any of the projects I worked on, we would've visited their accommodation. The workers have WiFi, they have dining centres. In my limited time passing through, I spent two weekends, personally I have seen no evidence of it".
