Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for the briefings. Deputy Chambers referred to the aspiration to have 60% participation in sports. One big obstacle to that happening is the Safeguarding 1 course, the child protection course. Every volunteer has to do it. It is a requirement if one wishes to work with children under 18 years of age or vulnerable adults. I have done some research. When I looked it up last night I found there are no courses available anywhere in the country. It seems to be a complete mess. Different sports partnerships put it on different platforms if one wishes to access it. It is very difficult to find out and there is no uniformity with the application process.

The FAI, the GAA and the IRFU run their own courses, which is good for them, but smaller sports organisations such as Hockey Ireland, cricket, basketball and other sports have to get their volunteers to do the course, but there is no centralised platform. Smaller sports are not in a position to run it. This means clubs are going to lose volunteers and participants. I ask the Minister of State to intervene in this to ensure there is a centralised platform that it is easily accessible and understandable and that there is a good healthy supply of courses, so there is no queue for the course. Will he undertake to have a centralised mechanism that would allow volunteers to do it?