Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I wish to raise a number of points on this issue. The Minister's predecessor, the late Mr. Séamus Brennan, stated that the issue has been debated and discussed for several years and that as the Minister with responsibility for sport, he took the view that it was important to end the continuing uncertainty and to bring finality to the matter. Everyone was pleased there was what we believed to be finality at the time. Subsequently money was ring-fenced within the Irish Sports Council for this grant in 2008 in the amount of €3.5 million. That provided the council with dedicated extra funding which has not been provided this year. Last year, the Irish Sports Council had a dedicated fund for the GPA which has been effectively dispensed with this year. What is it supposed to do in terms of providing funding? Why is the funding not ring-fenced again this year as it was in the previous year?

See this speech in context