Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputies Brian Hayes and Charlie O'Connor for raising this matter, in particular Deputy O'Connor for his dedication and commitment to his constituents in returning to the House. I am grateful to the Deputies for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the background to the provision of these facilities. To begin with, these halls were built as part of a programme to develop community sports halls in drugs task force areas in Dublin and Cork. The stated objective of the programme was that each hall would be dual use in nature in that they would be accessible to the wider community as well as to the local school population. The intention was that, apart from normal school usage, the facilities would be available as much as possible to the community and, in particular, to target groups such as youth at risk.

As a reflection of its commitment to the programme, my Department provided funding in excess of €34 million to cover in full the capital cost of constructing nine dual use halls with enhanced facilities attached to post-primary schools. Eight of these halls are located in Dublin, including the halls referred to by the Deputies, and one is in Cork. The full list of relevant schools is as follows: Firhouse Community College, Tallaght; Killinarden Community School, Tallaght; Collinstown Park Community College, Clondalkin; Scoil Phobail losolde, Palmerstown; Pearse College, Crumlin; College of Further Education, Inchicore; Senior College, Ballyfermot; St. Michael's secondary school, Finglas; and St. Vincent's Convent secondary school, Cork city. These halls are of a different order of magnitude to the standard school PE hall. They are over three times the size of a standard hall and include a large number of distinct spaces, including the main arena, a meeting room, a fitness studio and a multi-purpose area.

An application was made by my Department in 2006 for dormant accounts funding to enable community usage of the halls to commence. Government approval was received in 2007 for the drawdown of funding of approximately €2.1 million in respect of six of the halls, including those referred to by the Deputies. In regard to these six halls, management structures were put in place and community groups were given access. In Dublin county, County Dublin VEC has managed and operated the halls at the schools in Firhouse, Killinarden, Clondalkin and Palmerstown, while in Dublin city, Dublin City Council, on behalf of my Department and City of Dublin VEC, has managed and operated the halls at Inchicore and Crumlin.

The position is that the allocated dormant accounts funding will provide for the operation of these halls until the end of 2008. My Department does not normally fund community facilities but we are in contact with other Departments with responsibilities in this area and will be in contact with the relevant stakeholders.

I thank the Deputies once again for affording me the opportunity to outline to the House the current position on this matter.

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