Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

Two areas are starkly identified in the most recent report which I launched some months ago — Deputy Mitchell was present — which was commissioned by the Irish Sports Council. These are the participation of young girls in sport and the participation and retention of young children in socio-economically disadvantaged areas. Coincidentally, I happened to have a meeting this week with a local sports partnership and was surprised at the people, organisations and community groups involved. This is made possible through funding from the Irish Sports Council. Significant amounts are being invested directly. Much of their remit is to work in disadvantaged areas. While there are many soccer, GAA and rugby clubs etc. in these areas, they tend not to get all the children involved. The participation of the sports partnerships in encouraging them to work in some cases directly with those clubs is allowing young children who are disadvantaged in some way to feel they can easily join a club and gain all the benefits of membership. Considerable work is being done in that regard. As a follow-up to the report commissioned by the Irish Sports Council, it is considering the new programmes we need to develop. All the sporting bodies would have recognised this issue in recent years and many programmes have been redirected. However, much work remains to be done in that area.

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