John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

For balance, I want to return to the schools issue again. In a previous career, I was a teacher in a school where there was no funding or one could not apply for sports capital funding as a school. That was changed a few years ago, which was a good move. It meant that the facilities are available 12 hours a day, that is, they do not close at 4 p.m. when the school closes. Schools got better facilities, the children who were at the schools got better facilities and it also benefited local clubs. In response to the controversy of whether it is a private or public school, schools should be able to tie up with local clubs regardless. It should then be open to every person in the community to join whatever clubs are linked up with the school and benefit from the facilities. I want to record my support for the continuation of that. There must always be fine-tuning and reviews must be undertaken, but it is important that schools facilities would be eligible for sports capital funding and that they would, in turn, make them available for their local clubs and organisations. That is a better use of facilities and money, better value for money and should continue.