Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I wish to share time with Deputy Joe Higgins.

There is no doubt that sport plays a significant part in all our lives. One does not need to be an elite athlete. Even a couch potato is involved in and enjoys sports. We all benefit from the achievement of the few top class sports people. Facilities are critical to delivering good performance but there is little value in having top class facilities without the feeder facilities too. It is important to have not only the showcase as a centre of excellence but also consistent investment in sports locally.

It is not possible to produce good results without individual commitment. That is assisted by public endorsement of the kind of facilities likely to feature at Abbotstown. It is important to invest in those showcase facilities. The location was widely discussed many years ago. I share the concerns of many about the location. The debate has come and gone but facilities in foreign cities have rail links which is more satisfactory than facilities to which transport is car-dependent as Abbotstown will be. The previous speaker noted that the occasional congestion arising from the development is a burden on the surrounding community.

We all got a great lift over the past week from Ireland winning the Triple Crown and from the great results in Cheltenham. The opposite occurs when we do not get good results. We have had a number of very barren Olympic Games and it is clear we need to improve and professionalise in a very deliberate manner. The quicker we proceed with that, the better, and we need the facilities, the approach and the individuals to do so.

Most of us have had the opportunity to travel in recent years and we have seen top class facilities in countries with economies much poorer than ours. When one sees them, one can get quite angry and ask why we cannot have the same class of facility. It is about time we spent money on what we need to spend it on, and we definitely need to spend money on sport.

I am concerned that significant funds will be pumped into this centre of excellence at the expense of feeder services. Since July 2000, the closing date for applications for swimming pool projects, some 55 projects have been dealt with and 25 have been grant aided nationally. I understand that 15 are complete with ten at construction stage. Others remain at various stages. Swimming can be enjoyed across the spectrum and it keeps people healthy whether they are very young or elderly. It is a most inclusive sport. Last year the Government is estimated to have spent some €500 million in the health services specifically dealing with obesity, yet the health advantages of sport have not been recognised and it has not been provided for sufficiently in terms of investment.

The cost of using facilities is as important as having them available. If, for example, a family of two adults and three children want to spend an afternoon at the National Aquatic Centre, the cost would be €54. That is not affordable for a family on welfare. We must find another way of making these facilities available, such as the so-called leisure passport used in the UK where, depending on their income, people are allowed a certain amount of time to use sporting facilities. Such an approach must be considered. A critical mass of people will be needed to make these facilities viable, but they will not be used only by elite athletes. We should not be elitist about who gets to use these facilities.

The census of population is due to be taken in April and it will show the huge level of growth which has continued to take place right across west Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. The fact that one has to book an hour in swimming pools in these areas some three or four weeks in advance in the summer indicates an appetite for such facilities which is not properly provided for.

There is a link between the location of facilities and the people who emerge to participate in sport at elite and other levels. For example, the Salmon Leap canoe club in Leixlip has had an Olympics participant in all the last six Olympic Games. I hope that one day we will pick up a gold or silver medal, but those participants at least compete on a par with counterparts in the rest of the world. If one does not provide the facilities, one does not get the athletes. I do not think that north Kildare has a particular aptitude for paddling but it is clear that the facility there is the determining factor in producing people who will ultimately take part in events such as the Olympic Games.

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