Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to say heartful thanks to the witnesses and Sport Ireland for assisting so many sporting organisations both at national level and at local level in shepherding sporting participation through the pandemic on an ongoing basis. They succeeded in creating confidence and a framework within which sporting participation continues to happen in a very safe manner. That work has trickled all the way down to local clubs, be it the GAA, soccer or rugby. Sport Ireland's guidelines and guidance has been crucial in supporting sporting organisation to navigate what has been an unprecedented challenge for all of us.

Also, heartful thanks to Sport Ireland for its work in encouraging increased participation by women in sport. It is something I have been researching a little lately. The figures are very encouraging in terms of what has been achieved in the past two decades or so. They have far exceeded the participation rates I expected to see when I initially got into that research. As the witnesses pointed out, the gap is closing all the time. I thank them for the work they are doing. There is great appetite among all sporting organisations, both national governing bodies and at local level, to assist Sport Ireland and work with it in a spirit of partnership to increase it further and perhaps to the point where, hopefully, women’s participation in sport will overtake that of men.

Mr. Mulvey outlined there have been many challenges arising from Covid-19 but there have also been many positive aspects arising from the challenges which have been primarily beneficial for people and families in particular. I am fortunate to live close to a forest trail developed by Coillte in conjunction with our local community. It was literally overrun with people in the first phases of the lockdown on those lovely long summer evenings. We saw families for the first time ever coming and exercising together. That is something we need to encourage for the future. Sport Irleand's work in the Keep Well campaign will aid and abet that and hopefully result in even greater levels of participation.

I want to make one comment about a sport I love, that of cycling. Mr. Mulvey mentioned the significant increased participation in cycling. We saw data from one of our national banks two days ago showing that the spend on bikes and cycling equipment has gone through the roof in recent months. The European Cycling Federation has stated that the levels of participation in cycling, both leisure cycling and competitive cycling, have increased exponentially during the past 12 months or so.

Where are we at with the development of the new velodrome in Abbottstown? I know it is an much an issue for Government as it for Sport Ireland. We are fortunate to have some extraordinary athletes. I think of Lydia Gurley, Lydia Boylan, Mark Downey, Felix English and many other young track cyclists developing now. When they reach a certain level of competency and expertise and begin to win internationally they are shipped off to Majorca. That is the only option they have. If someone who excels in swimming was told that once they reach a certain level we cannot accommodate them anymore here and that they would have to leave the island and go elsewhere to reach the pinnacle of their talent, their judgment would be questioned. It is as much an issue for Government as it is for Sport Ireland but I would love to get an update on that project. If we had an indoor velodrome in Ireland we could bring over some of the best coaching expertise in the world, who happen to be Irish but now base themselves abroad. I was in New Zealand a number of months ago and met two Irish coaches who are renowned in the field of cycling coaching but they have to base themselves in New Zealand because we simply do not have the facilities here. We could create a wonderful eco-system of coaches and cyclists centred around a new velodrome that would see us having international success like countries such as New Zealand and Britain. Where are we at with that project and how can we assist Sport Ireland in bringing that to finality?