Mr. John Treacy:

I will begin by talking about the local authorities. One idea behind the local sports partnership was to have a close association with local authorities throughout the country. That is the purpose of the local sports partnership. The idea is to have a partnership with all the various agencies at local level. I am pleased the Deputy is involved with the local sports partnership in Galway. It is critical for us to have all politicians involved at local level supporting the local sports partnership. Politicians lead by example and I commend the Deputy on being an advocate for the local sports partnership.

We are moving to link the local sports partnerships and invest in local councils throughout the country. That would be a good step. What we have now is a scenario of local plans coming up and sports being a part of those local plans. I am talking about a shift in policy. We now have local authorities with quality-of-life and sports policy as part of what they do. That is a major shift in the mindset and in planning at local level.

There is good news around sport. People want to be involved in sport and so on. We have good relationships with the local authorities. We met all the directors of services in June this year to talk about where we would be going in future. We talked about Dormant Accounts Fund funding, how to get involved and how to ensure organisations have a competitive bidding process. We want all the local authorities throughout the country to be excited about the local sports partnership. We want them to be invested in it to ensure money comes back into the local councils. That is happening throughout the country. Local authorities give out grants. Michael Curley is the Galway man who will ensure clubs invest at local level. It might be small money, but a little money at club level goes a long way. It might be €500 to buy something but that goes a long way.

Another important aspect is to ensure local clubs are recognised. That is important for volunteers at local level. Again, the local sports partnerships play a key role.

I was in Galway for the awards for the Fit Town competition one year. We had all the local groups vying for the title. It was competitive. I will leave it to Dr. May to fill in the committee on some of the details but it is about the local community coming together. We always say that sport and physical activity are far easier when we work together. This is why "Operation Transformation" is so important. The towns come behind the initiative. People meet at 8 p.m. and everyone can do it together. People do not have to do it on their own during the winter months. Activities bring people together and there is a sense of community. Other people feel welcome to join with everyone else. That is what the concept is about. It is about ensuring that people are active. It binds the town together. Dr. May will comment further.