Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I am sure that the wonderful people in the building unit in Tullamore are more than aware of the consistently strong case that I have made for the provision of a sports hall for an increasingly large school in Seamount, Kinvarra, in south County Galway. I am perplexed by the approach that has been taken and perhaps somebody can clarify the matter.

At a time when we need young people to focus to a huge extent on physical activity, and again all of the international research shows that, you beds in a lifelong commitment to physical activity at a very young age. If that opportunity does not arise, then it is lost forever. Second, and sadly, at a time when all of the statistics point out that children are becoming more obese and are involved in less physical activity and at a time when girls, more so than boys, seem to leave the world of sport and physical activity in their mid to late teens, we should focus hugely on maximising the opportunities for young people, particularly in post-primary schools, to involve themselves in physical activity and physical education. Seamount College is a school in south County Galway. It has received very significant investment over the last ten years, and rightly so, because it needed to be brought into the 21st century in terms of the facilities available. For some strange reason, a sports hall has not been made available to the school. Initially, when I asked why that was the case I was told that there was a policy in place that schools do not receive sports halls during their refurbishment or redevelopment phase and that there might be an opportunity at some point in the future to provide a sports hall. That reply does not make sense because a school that is located 12 km away in Gort received a sports hall as part of its refurbishment. Also, a school in Loughrea, and rightly so, has received a sports hall as part of its refurbishment.

When I tabled a parliamentary question on this matter I was told that 21 schools across the country over the last five years have received exactly that. What is the policy? If it is a case that there is some sort of a resource management issue around the provision of sports halls, can that be addressed? When are we likely to see, not alone in Kinvarra but in every other school we seek to refurbish or redevelop, sports hall provision becoming a normal part of that refurbishment?