Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I have had a number of discussions with and good co-operation from my colleague, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue. In some local areas there is good co-operation between sports clubs and the schools. Where there is not co-operation, there can be terrible enmity and jealousy between schools in the one town. If one school happens to get a new building and a PE hall with it, the other school demands another PE hall. I know of one town where two new schools got two PE halls and now the third school is insisting on a PE hall. There are only 7,000 people in the whole town and yet there is no co-operation between the schools on the issue. The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism is doing an audit throughout the country on what sporting facilities are available in different towns. We hope to build on that, fill the gaps and ensure co-operation between everybody.

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