Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wanted to put it on my record and to say it to my Sinn Féin colleagues too. I hope he is well.

I welcome the witnesses. I have some questions for them that I will hopefully be able to get through. I welcome this opportunity to engage with them. It has been 25 years of this much-needed investment in the North and the Border regions. The witnesses are doing a fantastic job in our communities, which speaks for itself. I do not envy the position they are in with regard to the scale of this fund and trying to reach as many communities as possible.

My first question is about the sport element. Sport does not seem to have a huge role in the shared island unit funding, for instance, and the reconciliation funding that is available. There is levelling up, but that is for the Six Counties, whereas this is an opportunity for more cross-Border co-operation. I have received quite a few queries about larger scale capital projects for sport. I was advised that the only relevant category was "1.4 Reimagining Communities". It closed on 7 September. The sporting organisations did not really know about it locally and have missed that opportunity. Some 36 projects applied, so the demand obviously reached a significant number of people. There was much interest in it. We are only in 2024 and it was closed in 2023. It is €75 million for ten projects. I have also heard that might be it until 2029 and that the fund may not reopen.

Where is the opportunity for other sporting organisations, which I think fit in the vision of capital investment that lifts a community that may not have had investment or investment opportunities brought to them? They may have taken opportunities of their own accord. It would be a focal point for any community. It obviously brings people together. We have seen in the North how sport connects well with health and wellbeing. It goes above and beyond that in bringing communities together, with a sense of togetherness, health and well-being. I hate to see these opportunities missed. Are there other opportunities for sports capital or is that it?