Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

Like Deputy Mitchell, I am glad the Minister was not obliged to engage in any high-risk sports such as hang-gliding or parachuting yesterday. We are glad no serous injuries occurred as a consequence of the incident.

As I understand it, no new sports capital funding is provided for 2009. Is there any reason that national lottery funding cannot be allocated in order to facilitate new applications? It is my understanding that projects already in receipt of funding in 2008 will continue in 2009 but that no new sports capital funding is coming on board. Will the Minister explain why national lottery funding cannot be dedicated for this purpose?

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