Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

The Minister is excused. I hope he does not have to travel by air or he may be back with us again.

I welcome this Bill, which will provide for the establishment of the national sports campus development authority on a statutory basis. I join the Minister in recognising the work of Mr. Con Haugh and his officials in bringing the development to this stage, and his stewardship of the project over the past five years or so.

The primary functions of the authority will be to develop a sports campus on the Abbotstown site; to furnish and equip it; manage, operate, and maintain it; and encourage and promote its use by professional and amateur sports people and members of the public alike. The campus will provide a central building, which will include living accommodation, gymnasia, fitness training and sports medical and recovery areas. It will also provide training areas for rugby, soccer and GAA and hockey field games. Each of the three areas will have a range of natural turf and synthetic pitches, some floodlit, which will allow teams to train in secure, private locations. The plan also envisages a national indoor training centre and a sports hall that will host over 30 indoor sports, with a capacity of 1,000 spectators.

The development of Sports Campus Ireland is certainly a significant development as Ireland lags some considerable distance behind its principal competitors in the provision of training facilities and coaching expertise for our elite and emerging athletes. We are only beginning to catch up in recent years with the establishment of the NCTC and the provision of the 50-metre swimming pool in Limerick, the National Aquatic Centre in Abbotstown, the National Rowing Centre at Inniscarra, the Ríocht running track at Castleisland, County Kerry and the National Hockey Arena at UCD. However, we are still light years behind counterparts, including the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, former east European bloc countries, Russia and others.

New Zealand, for example, has a similar population, but we lag behind it in terms of expertise and facilities. That is reflected in New Zealand's performance in world sport, be it in rugby, Olympic sports, hockey or cricket. It will take years of sustained and targeted investment to develop a range of top class facilities to enable our athletes to train in Ireland and compete successfully on a world stage. Currently, many of our athletes who wish to succeed on an international level must go to other countries, the US in particular. Some athletes would like to stay or study here, if only facilities were available. We must give our athletes a choice if we are to exploit all the talent available in this country. I will refer to this in greater detail later. Some athletes would stay and study in Ireland if they had the facilities. We must give our athletes this choice if we are to exploit all the talent available to us.

The campus will also provide office accommodation for many of our national governing bodies of sport. The FAI, in particular, is very enthusiastic about moving its headquarters to the existing State Laboratory building at Abbotstown. It is trying to operate from two locations. Its current headquarters in Merrion Square are cramped and outmoded. As a result of these conditions, the FAI has to hold most of its meetings in hotels, which is an unnecessary drain on its resources. Its technical and club licensing departments work from offices at Dublin Airport. This is not the way for a modern sporting organisation to do its business. The provision of an administrative headquarters at Abbotstown will immediately solve this problem by bringing together various departments and affiliates under the one roof. This will streamline operations and build on the synergies that will exist from having its staff together.

Abbotstown will also be the location of the FAI's national academies, where the top under age players from throughout Ireland will come together for intensive coaching and training sessions. The provision of residential accommodation will mean that these sessions can be held over a number of days as players will be able to stay on site. All its international squads and emerging talent programme participants will be able to avail of this.

However, not all sporting organisations have their future plans tied into the campus development. The Athletics Association of Ireland continues to pursue its own plans for an indoor arena and a new headquarters at the national athletics stadium in Santry.

The Golfing Union of Ireland is going ahead with its plans for a €5.5 million headquarters and golf academy at Carton House in Maynooth. The general secretary of the GUI said recently that the campus will be of no advantage to his organisation. We have not heard from other organisations but some will find it advantageous to locate in Abbotstown while others will not.

I welcome the fact that the Minister said the existing buildings on the site in Abbotstown will be used as much as possible by the organisations that will set up there. I am particularly pleased that the FAI will use the fine State Laboratory building. There are fine buildings on the site in Abbotstown and it would be a waste of resources if they had to be demolished to make way for new buildings. Some of them are so well designed they should be the subject of preservation orders.

While welcoming this Bill, it must be placed in the context of a longer term national plan or vision for the development of elite sport in this country. The Bill, as I am sure the Minister will agree, is not an end in itself. The campus, when developed, must be seen as part of an overall national sporting infrastructure. It must be linked to the national training and coaching centre in Limerick and other designated regional centres so that all our athletes and those with potential, including those who are attending primary and post-primary schools, will have access to the necessary training facilities, coaching personnel and other back-up support within reasonable reach of their homes.

A young, talented player at any sport needs good coaching that involves nutrition, training programmes and appropriate competition, and must also attend school. I will mention an aspect of the development of our elite sportspeople which is sometimes not taken into consideration. I have recently received feedback from parents of particularly gifted young athletes. Irish parents are discerning and placing their children's eggs in a sporting basket is a risk that most will not take lightly. We need, therefore, to develop facilities at local and national level to accommodate the particular circumstances of a study-sport balance. If somebody is involved in sport while at the same time striving for academic achievement, sacrifices are needed and a balance needs to be struck. The only way to achieve that is to have facilities as close as possible to where a person studies and lives. For that reason, Campus Ireland will not be the complete solution, though it will be an important part of promoting elite sport in this country.

Other countries have special dedicated schools for exceptionally talented students. We are probably too small to go that route, but we can provide a better structure to nurture this talent by focusing better supports at local, regional and national levels. Talented young people cannot travel long distances on a regular basis to access the support services they need. It is a long journey from west Cork, Donegal or south Kerry to Dublin. It is unfair to ask young people to travel from different corners of the country to Campus Ireland on a weekly basis, although they may be able to do so on a quarterly basis, so the facilities will have to be provided elsewhere.

Even in Dublin, as we know, getting from one side of city to the other every day is almost impossible for children trying to pursue their chosen sport. I was recently speaking to a member of the UCD rowing club, which trains at Islandbridge. At times it takes them one and a half hours to get there from college by public transport. Then they have to return, which takes up a considerable amount of their time, especially at examination time. That is why we should have a spatial sports strategy for the provision of facilities for the nurturing of our future elite sportspeople. We need to establish one stop shops at a local level. There, young people could access coaching, regular monitoring of training, information on nutrition and, especially, advice on how to balance a study-sport lifestyle that will not impede their future opportunities for earning a living after they have finished their elite sporting career.

In this regard we could learn from other countries, such as the Netherlands, where elite athletes are provided with a structured support system that ensures there is suitable employment at the other end of what is often only a few years at the elite end of sport. They manage to do this by encouraging companies to adopt their sporting elite. There is a payback for both the companies and the individual sports player in such a system. This could be encouraged through modest changes in the tax system.

The proposed Irish institute of sport must also figure prominently in any future vision of elite sports policy in this country. I am glad the Minister referred to the proposed institute. I have been trying to raise this question with the Minister in the House for the past year but my questions have been disallowed because the Ceann Comhairle's office said the Minister had no responsibility for the institute. He has confirmed today that he does have responsibility so the next time I ask a question about the Irish institute of sport, I hope it will be accepted.

The Athens review report of March 2005 recommended the establishment of such an institute with a view to establishing a sustainable infrastructure for the long-term development and support of the high performance system in Ireland. Following the publication of the Athens review report, the Irish Sports Council undertook a comprehensive consultation process to develop detailed proposals for the establishment of an institute of sport. The Sports Council appointed two committees to produce the proposals — an advisory group and a strategic technical group. The groups included many overseas experts with an in-depth knowledge of sports institutes, including Roslyn Carbon, former medical director with the English Institute of Sport, and Brian Miller, a member of the British athletics sports science panel. The work of both groups has been completed and the report on the proposals for the establishment of an Irish institute of sport has been approved by the board of the Irish Sports Council and is with the Minister for his approval. I call on the Minister through his leading official and the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, to make this a priority. In fairness to him, the Minister has put in place many important parts of our arts and sports infrastructure including the refurbishment of Lansdowne Road, but this is a critical matter. I appeal to the Minister to put it in place as soon as possible as it will not incur a significant cost.

Through the Minister of State, who comes from the Clare constituency and will have an interest in this matter, I call on the Minister to designate the National Coaching and Training Centre in Limerick as the national institute of sport. The facilities proposed for the institute are an extension of what the National Coaching and Training Centre has endeavoured to provide in recent years but without the required funding. The NCTC should be provided with the necessary additional funding to employ the sports science and medical staff envisaged for the institute.

I also suggest a hub site should be established in Dublin as part of the same management structure. There are many opportunities to create a hub in Dublin. For example, the new Campus Ireland could be an ideal site. Dublin City University has an advanced, elite department and has developed its athletics programme successfully without much help or assistance and UCD has a well structured sports programme. Given that the NCTC has been established in Limerick, it would be timely to give it recognition and provide the proper facilities and resources to allow it to develop into an institute of sport.

Every country is examining Australia's model for an institute of sport, which has been successful. We should examine that model as much as possible. A number of institutes of sport in England also operate successfully. Investment in coaches and residential training should also occur as part of this development. The new structure could link to the Northern Ireland institute of sport as part of an all-island approach and to the UK network of institutes in the lead up to the 2012 London Olympics. In addition, investment should be made in national governing bodies, NGBs, to maximise their coaching structures and performance management capabilities. Regional nodes should be set up linking to the NGB regional squad structures and the established network of sports science and medical supports.

Creating another structure could lead to a dilution of focus. In other words, designating another structure as an institute of sport would lead to unnecessary duplication and a waste of resources, particularly when that structure is already in place. I am saying this as it is the right option and not because I went to a physical education college in Limerick or have an affinity for or connection to the University of Limerick in some way. Apart from the NCTC, Limerick has a university, a college of science, an arena — one of the finest facilities in Ireland — and the boathouse being developed by Limerick's rowing club. All of the facilities are in place. Limerick also has good access compared to Abbotstown. Two reasons people such as I argued against siting a national stadium in Abbotstown were access and traffic congestion, which the campus development could also experience. For this reason I am making a strong argument for the designation of the National Coaching and Training Centre in Limerick as the Irish institute of sport. This is the most sensible way forward.

I will speak on a subject that is probably not very popular in the House but must be addressed, that is, the new authority to have responsibility for the National Aquatic Centre. I suggest the authority carries out an independent expert review of the reported defects and severe leaking of highly chlorinated pool water into the subsoil at Abbotstown. A number of reports have been carried out, but apart from the report on the storm damage to the roof to which I will later refer, I am unaware of an independent structural report carried out by an expert group of engineers. I appeal to the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism to ensure that is carried out before or concurrently with the commencement of the new authority. I will not take sides but what has happened at the National Aquatic Centre has tarnished the image of what should be a great facility for Ireland.

The pool was obviously built in a hurry and there was much pressure placed on the builder and everyone concerned to have it ready for the Special Olympics. At the time, I am sure we all called on the Taoiseach, the Minister and CSID to finish the pool for the Special Olympics. On 26 March 2002, the Taoiseach admitted the National Aquatic Centre was a rushed job when he stated in the Dáil that if all procedures had been followed to the letter of the law, we would not have been in a position to complete the swimming pool in time for the Special Olympics.

Due to storm damage to the centre's roof, it was closed from January to May of 2005. Storm force winds ripped a 25 m section from the roof on New Year's Day causing more than €1 million in damage to the roof structure. The independent report carried out on the damage by Kavanagh Mansfield and Partners consulting structural and civil engineers found that "the damage to the competition hall roof was caused by the failure of elements within the roof assembly". It goes on to claim that this failure could not have occurred at wind speeds within normal design parameters for a building of this size in that location. Exceptional storm conditions need not have been present for the damage to occur. The roof failed due to lack of resistance to the wind suction forces exerted on the day of the storm. The forces did not exceed those that can be estimated for design purposes as possible to occur by reference to the normal design code. The report concluded that the roof decking did not comply with the normal design codes or, in that regard, with the building regulations. The engineers also stated that they were concerned about the safety of the roof.

I suggest the new authority, on the direction of the Minister or its new chairman, should appoint Kavanagh Mansfield and Partners to carry out a structural report on the entire building. Only then can the new authority determine what repairs are necessary. It is important the report be carried out as soon as possible. If it is not, the new authority might become preoccupied with other problems in the National Aquatic Centre. For example, a legal case is ongoing and there will probably be others. There is a dispute about rental payments and who is responsible for what. If we had a proper engineer's report on the centre and the defects such as those found in most new buildings at some stage, it would remove an argument from the equation. I suggest this way forward.

The British Olympic diving team had to cut short its training schedule at the National Aquatic Centre, NAC, because of a defective diving board. The defects in the building have been highlighted by a number of journalists, including RTE's chief reporter, Charlie Bird. The Government and CSID have pointed the finger at Dublin Waterworld for not maintaining the building properly. A snag list was drawn up before and after the opening of the NAC. It seems this process is incomplete and major structural defects in the building have never been corrected. The first task of the new authority is to correct the defects at the NAC and stop the blame game. As far as I know, Ireland has no diving programme or policy but the fact that the British Olympic team is using our facility is an endorsement of the centre. The building must be put in proper working order.

The Minister referred to a group of people, including the OPW, CSID and the Department of Finance, to consult with Fingal County Council and undertake a study to determine a suitable mix of sporting, leisure and amenity use to create a vibrant and sustainable sports campus. The campus should be used by the public as well as elite athletes.

The Minister referred to the value of sport. Young people are in the Public Gallery this afternoon. I surveyed 1,400 primary schools recently and received feedback from the principals of those schools. This conclusively showed that physical education is not being taught in our schools and that is why, according to the Irish Heart Foundation, one in five children in the five to 12 age group are overweight or obese. We do not have sufficient facilities available in our schools, a point I have highlighted several times since I published the report. Only 23% of primary schools have a sports hall. Irish weather is unsuitable for taking children outside during most of the year. It is impossible for teachers to implement a physical education programme without facilities. While many facilities have been provided by the national lottery, I suggest giving preferential treatment to any school or local club that agrees to provide a hall on, or adjacent to, school grounds. In some cases, this would solve the problem.

Of the schools that had sports halls only a small percentage had halls over 170 sq. m. This is the size of two badminton courts. This Bill is another part of the jigsaw in the development of infrastructure in sport. I see exciting possibilities for the new campus and, under the direction of people such as Con Haugh, it may make a major contribution to elite sports and creating a sporting culture. The Bill should not be seen as an end in itself. We must examine what is happening in our schools and communities. I look forward to addressing various issues on Committee Stage, such as the structure and size of the proposed authority and the type of person who should be a member of the authority.

See this speech in context