Mr. Paul McDermott:

A number of speakers have raised the issue of swimming pools. Notwithstanding the popularity of outdoor swimming at locations around the country like the Forty Foot in Dublin, swimming pools are ultimately where people swim and take their exercise. Facilitating access to a pool is complex because it is an indoor facility. Swimming pools are expensive to run, etc. There is a concern around swimming. We are working closely with Ireland Active and Swim Ireland, as Mr. Peter Hogan mentioned earlier on.

I refer to sports like basketball, which is an important winter sport in Ireland and is very popular and widely played. We were heartened when Bernard O'Byrne, the CEO of Basketball Ireland, recently said that the clubs have been very creative in accessing venues if certain venues were closed to them. We understand that it is very challenging for them and we are committed to working with Basketball Ireland. The indoor season over the winter is going to be difficult for certain sports. We dealt with a range of challenges over the summer. Mr. Treacy has mentioned some of the things that sports clubs and governing bodies have faced such as loss of income from events and various memberships and affiliations. We are overcoming that and will work very closely with all partners referenced earlier to deal with the different challenges that are going to arise over the winter. Some of them are not completely in our control because of the nature of the virus and this health crisis. We are absolutely committed to working with the governing bodies and clubs to address their particular issues.