Mr. James Galvin:

To follow on from Dr. May's comments on participation levels, I will outline some statistics that might illustrate the type of numbers that are involved in physical activity and sport. If we look at 2016, more than 14,000 secondary school students participated in Rowing Ireland's get going, get rowing programme. The 2016 GAA cúl camps attracted 127,000 participants. Swim Ireland passed the 10,000 mark in the number of participants in their swim for a mile. The statistics show there are huge numbers benefiting from physical activity and organised sport.

There is one area that needs to be addressed as a priority. That is PE in the national school curriculum. UCD research indicates that only 20% of children get the minimum amount of physical activity in national school. If we want to develop a society where children have the fundamental motor skills and physical literacy skills required to develop throughout their lives, to complement them both physically and psychologically, we need to address it at the earliest opportunity. That is among our four and five year old children, rather than later on in life when this has become a fundamental issue for people. If anything is to come out of this forum it should be the need to address and tackle issues physically and emotionally, coming back to Deputy O'Keefe's comment around gambling. We need to do so at the earliest opportunity in our education system. I am not foisting all of this on our teachers. It requires a holistic approach from coaches and from development officers in national governing bodies, but also within the education system.