Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the Minister of State, Deputy Griffin's statement he noted:

Originally it was envisaged that €30 million would be provided for the sports capital programme in 2017. However, following discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the Minister and I were delighted to increase the budget. That allowed us to allocate a total of €60 million at the end of 2017 to more than 1,800 different sporting projects. That was an excellent result for Irish sport.

What the Minister of State failed to say was that there had been no capital grants allocations for two years. The Minister did not decide to double the amount available, but rather doubled up on two years worth of investment. There was no actual increase whatsoever. He had not delivered in 2016, so only allocations that were owed were provided. That should have been said a little bit more clearly, and the Minister of State should have been a little bit more transparent about that.

Speaking of transparency, I have to say that this is an absolute mess. I always thought of the Minister as somebody who stood on a platform of accountability and transparency, and who was totally against cronyism of any description. However, he has really bought into gombeen politics. I will explain what I mean. Deputy Troy had outlined the abundance of facilities available at Wesley College. Fair play to it. It advertises as a private school and part of that is based on the attractiveness of its facilities. I will mention the facilities again; perhaps it will resonate with people. It has four rugby pitches, one soccer pitch, two large-scale AstroTurf hockey pitches, two mini hockey pitches, 16 tennis courts, two basketball courts, two cricket pitches, track and field facilities, a sports hall and a gym. When the sports allocation grants were brought in, the idea was that they would target disadvantaged areas. It was supposed to encourage participation in sport in those areas and to steer young people in the right direction, aiming to get them involved in community and sporting activity. Perhaps the Minister can enlighten me, but I cannot figure out how Wesley College is in any way disadvantaged. Perhaps the students are choking on their silver spoons. Can the Minister please point out to me how Wesley College is disadvantaged in respect of sporting facilities? One of the Senators was asked if Wesley College qualified for the grant because it is linked with the YMCA.

Perhaps that was just an "in" that was included in order that places like private schools could apply and justify qualifying for the grant, if ever one could use the word "justify" in this instance. Thirty public schools were refused and nowhere in a million years would they have the same facilities as Wesley College. They would not have a chance or a hope. A football club with no facilities was given €600. It bought a lawnmower to cut the grass in a rented field. One could not make it up. A patronising signal was sent to that club that it could have €600. The Minister might say that is all it applied for but how could it apply for anything else when it has no facilities?