Mr. Fintan O'Brien:

I thank the Deputy. I completely understand the logic of her question. Anyone who is in the Civil Service has probably seen that quite a few times. The outdoor recreation strategy states that it is being led by our Department and Sport Ireland. It is important to have it stated clearly that we sit at the apex of it. There is an awful lot of actors involved and a lot the work boils down to Comhairle na Tuaithe bringing all of the actors together. They are all very clear on our shared ambition and positivity for the sector but it can be difficult to get all of that pointing in the same direction. I would say that the chair of Comhairle na Tuaithe, Dr. Liam Twomey, who stood down from the post recently, has done a marvellous job in that regard in recent years.

There is quite a lot of ongoing coordination and communication required between Departments. Part of the challenge of the strategy was understanding all of the players, trying to bring them together and then maintaining that structure sitting on top of them. We have a number of structures around the country. What we have tried to do in the context of coherence is to push the idea of the county outdoor recreation plans. The Department is funding them and they bring together all of the main players. Flowing out of the structure of the national outdoor recreation strategy are the local plans and strategies that feed into it. They are underway in most, if not all, counties at the moment and they will be the blueprint for action. No matter who the actors are, they are all coming together around a shared plan for the way forward. On top of that, we have piloted county outdoor recreation officers in order to bring more coherence to that as well. I am quite hopeful that will make a real difference in ensuring coherence although I have no doubt that there will still be some issues in relation to tying it all up and making sure everyone is going in the same direction all of the time. That said, I think the structure of a colead between the Department and Sport Ireland and the overarching strategy feeding down into the local strategies, with Comhairle na Tuaithe bringing everybody together and pointing in the same direction, is working quite well for us in that regard.