Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The facility investment strategy is a €800 million-plus proposal throughout the country. The reality is that there is significant investment needed, as Mr. Hill said, throughout the regions.

There has been good practice. I come from Longford. A significant investment was put in by Longford Town as a small rural club. It is a 5,000 all-seater stadium. I do not see why some of the other, bigger clubs in bigger population areas could not have driven on themselves to develop such facilities. There is investment needed to get more young people involved and playing sport.

They mentioned in the strategy that 60% of that funding will come from Government. Has any commitment been given by the Department to match-fund that? The Department mentioned in its introductory piece that such a commitment over a ten-year period basically equates to the full sports capital programme. What commitment is there from the Department to match-fund this proposal or is it a pie-in-the-sky proposal?