Jim Glennon (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

It is a pleasure to speak on the Bill, even though my time will be divided between this afternoon and the next day. I reiterate my compliments to the Minister and his staff.

Sport in Ireland has come on in leaps and bounds over recent years. The number of women participating in sport, which I will deal with in the other part of my contribution, is growing at a phenomenal rate. One only has to look at ladies' football under the auspices of the FAI and camogie and ladies' football under the auspices of the GAA to see the amount of participation that is taking place in every parish throughout the country. Participation is what sport is about. It is not about sitting with one's feet up, however enjoyable it may be, looking at Sky Sports or whatever.

While it is important to the economics of sport, we should not get carried away with that end of sport which I have often referred to as the show business side. While a positive advantage may accrue from that side of sport, the reality is what the Minister's approach is all about. He is trying to provide the facilities so that ordinary men, women and children can participate fully in the healthy activity of sport and if by chance they want to move into an elite sport, this facility will be available to as many people as can avail of the opportunity. We tend to get carried away by the show business aspect of sport and we tend to think it is the reality. It is a tiny percentage of the numbers participating in sport. It bears little reality to the sport to which I refer in which we all participate at some stage and, I hope, for lengthy periods in our lives. I hope increasing numbers of young people will become involved in that end of sport.

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