John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

Volunteerism is an important issue. Few organisations of the country boast of a greater level of volunteerism than the Community Games. The men and women who volunteer to assist in sport are the true heroes and heroines of sport in Ireland. In that context, the Community Games movement has a registered adult volunteer complement of approximately 20,000 people and approximately 250,000 registered under 18 year old members. It has approximately 711 affiliated areas and, in 2005, the number of counties participating was 31. The sole exception was County Antrim.

With regard to volunteerism, the ESRI report prior to Christmas indicated that there are 400,000 volunteers in the country. That is a wonderful sign of how things are going in Ireland. In an age of materialism, the individual often transcends the community but in the case of these 400,000 people, the community clearly transcends the individual. The men and women who put up the nets, line the fields and put out the flags are the true heroes and heroines of Irish sport.

It is time we recognised the role of volunteers in sport. In that context, I am formulating plans to bring before Government with a view to examining whether we can create an appropriate awards scheme which would recognise not just the individuals concerned but also the individuals as representing the volunteers who give their time and effort to the children of the nation. These plans are well advanced and I hope to bring them to Government in the not too distant future so we can appropriately recognise the true heroes and heroines of Irish sport.

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