Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill, which will provide for the establishment of the national sports campus development authority on a statutory basis.

The primary functions of the authority will be to develop a sports campus on the Abbotstown site, to furnish, equip, manage, operate and maintain it as well as to encourage and promote its use by professional and amateur sports people and members of the public. The campus will provide a central building, which will include living accommodation, gymnasia, fitness training, medical and recovery areas. It will also provide training areas for rugby, soccer, Gaelic games 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 more than 30 indoor sports, with a capacity for 1,000 spectators.

The range of facilities to be provided at Abbotstown, are certainly impressive but they are not before time. Ireland lags behind the rest of the first world in terms of the facilities it provides for its professional athletes and its sporting citizens in general. As mentioned by Deputy Deenihan, Ireland lags far behind countries like the United States of America, England, Australian, New Zealand and even former communist countries in central and Eastern Europe in terms of its sports facilities. Nonetheless, belated though plans for Abbotstown are, they are very welcome. I hope the new authority will discharge its duties efficiently and effectively and that the new facilities will be open to the public and to professional athletes as soon as possible.

While in many respects it makes a great deal of sense to locate a centre such as Abbotstown in Dublin, as a rural Deputy, I must stress the need not to neglect the rest of the country. In small towns and villages throughout Ireland, sporting facilities are often lacking. Were it not for the sustained efforts of the GAA through the years, it is hard to imagine what sports outlets young people would have in rural Ireland. However, while hurling and Gaelic football are part of the fabric of the nation, they are not sports that every young person can participate in, or wishes to participate in. Therefore, the State has a responsibility to provide other options. In addition, the climate here means that indoor facilities are a must.

I have spoken before about the potential of facilities which lie idle all over Ireland. I refer to parish halls which remain locked most of the time owing to high insurance costs and the difficulty of finding volunteers to organise and supervise activities. I have mentioned my view that young people often turn to drink because of boredom. Going to the pub with their friends is the only social outlet available to them. In this context, it is high time we examined the underutilised resource parish halls provide. These buildings are generally large enough to host a range of activities such as badminton, indoor soccer, dancing classes, table tennis, volleyball and softball. However, high insurance costs mean they are not open to the people of the parishes most of the time. When they are, supervision is required. However, as we are all aware, the level of participation in voluntary work is declining. The demands of a strong economy put pressure on families to have both parents in the workforce and people simply do not have the time to engage in voluntary activity in their communities. Paying people from within local communities to provide supervision would go a long way towards addressing this problem. The bottom line is that if we are serious about providing our young people with alternatives to drink, drugs and boy-racing, we must put our money where our mouth is and come up with imaginative ways to tap into the resources available within our communities.

In respect of other community facilities such as all-weather pitches, I have seen how national lottery and local authority grants can make a big difference. However, such grants generally only meet part of the cost and the school or community in question must fundraise to attempt to meet outstanding costs. In this day and age, this should not be the case. I remember attending a function with the Minister in Cahir, County Tipperary last year, where the local community and school got together to open a wonderful facility. The Minister will agree that a community in a wealthy economy should not have to engage in the major effort and lobbying that went into securing funding for the project in question. Sports facilities such not be treated as a luxury in a wealthy First World country such as Ireland but should be seen as a normal part of life.

The grants provided for sports facilities in communities such as all-weather pitches or floodlit walkways around pitches should be increased to ensure they meet most of the costs involved. Providing floodlit walkways is an excellent way to encourage people to walk around pitches instead of on roads which can be extremely busy. Several accidents have happened. There is proof that facilities such as walkways are of significant benefit to many, particularly in rural areas. The Government should be amenable to this and consider developing them.

While local communities must be equipped with sports facilities, so too must our schools. Fine Gael recently surveyed 1,400 primary schools in respect of their sports facilities. The study revealed that PE was not taught in our schools. According to the Irish Heart Foundation, that is the reason one in five children in the five to 12 age group is overweight or obese. We do not have sufficient facilities available in our schools, a point that has been consistently highlighted. Only 23% of primary schools have a sports hall and for most of the year Irish weather is unsuitable for taking children outside. It is impossible for teachers to implement a physical education programme without facilities. Of the schools which had a sports hall only a small percentage had a hall of more than 170 sq m, the size of two badminton courts. The simple fact is that schools are heavily reliant on national lottery grants and fundraising. However, I reiterate that sports facilities such not be viewed as a luxury in a wealthy country such as Ireland. They are a necessity.

I welcome the Bill. I hope the National Sports Campus Authority will be successful and fulfil all of its obligations in an efficient and effective manner and that the facilities at Abbotstown give our athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest level worldwide. Moreover, I hope it encourages Irish people of all ages to embrace sport. I urge the Minister to examine the micro-level of small communities, as well as the gaps in the provision of sports facilities and consider how they can be addressed. Will he examine the issue of paid supervisors in the small community halls which lie idle?

In my constituency a parish community has raised substantial funds. Those involved made several applications to the Minister's Department for national lottery funding but were turned down on every occasion. They changed their application to meet the Minister's guidelines. Will he consider their current application in view of what I have stated and not let down rural communities which are growing and prospering? They need these facilities. I hope the Minister will listen to what I have stated.

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