Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

The first part of my question relates to how the funding will be allocated. I will not get into an argument about the horse and greyhound racing fund, which I have raised before. Given that the nationwide audit of sports facilities promised in the programme for Government may not be ready by the time the Government ends its term, what plan does the Minister have to ascertain the best locations to which to allocate the money under the sports capital programme, for example, or the local authority swimming pool programme? Has any detailed analysis been done or is it planned to do such analysis on the number of new schools in an area and its demographics and their relationship to sporting need so that we can target where sporting investment needs to be made?

I welcome the investment outlined in the NDP. However, we need to ensure that whatever Government comes after this one tries to allocate the funding fairly and on the basis of need. That has not necessarily happened in the past. The sports clubs and groups with the best organisations have made submissions resulting in a geographical anomaly. Is there a mechanism in place to identify need and to ensure funding is appropriately targeted?

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