Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming before the committee today. I know he is a sportsperson and glad to see the Dublin ladies' team and other women participating in sport. I have been involved in sport all my life and have trained and managed ladies' and men's football teams. In the Minister of State's introduction, he mentioned all the elite athletes doing very well in horse riding, golf, boxing, athletics, soccer, rugby, GAA, gymnastics and others.

However, the biggest problem at present, especially at grassroots level, is facilities. If one goes to any club, all the facilities are geared towards men. Despite so many women participating in sport over the past number of years, none of these clubs have increased their facilities. I know when one takes a ladies' team to play a game of football, basically, the men's team is getting the first advantage. We need to put a foundation in place and get the facilities and equipment in place.

I know the ladies' GAA has been given €2.4 million. It is a considerable sum of money but if we want to increase and get the gap closed, it is important we start working with the grassroots clubs. I have two daughters who are involved in sports. The main complaint they have is that no matter where they go to play a game of football or go on a run, they always have to come back home to the house to change their clothes. That could be a journey of 45 or 50 minutes. It all depends on the weather and whether it is raining or snowing that day. All the facilities seem to be geared towards men.

Years ago, when I was on the sports committee, I always mentioned New Zealand. It has approximately the same population and is approximately the same size as Ireland, but New Zealand seems to excel in all international sports, both men and women. Maybe we should have a look at and talk to New Zealand. It always seems to do very well in the Olympics.

Do not get me wrong, it is fantastic to see all of our ladies doing very well. However, that is glossing over the situation. The Minister of State should talk to the main sporting organisations, if he can. I hope that in the coming years, the ladies' and men's GAA clubs might come together. The Minister of State got a fantastic result a couple of weeks ago in terms of what has done with soccer to make everything in parity between the women and men. We have to make it interesting for women and men to come together. What are the Minister of State, the Department and the major sporting organisations doing to help get the facilities ready to entice more women into our sports?