John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I see from the answer to Deputy Upton yesterday on the "sunset clause", that clubs which were awarded grants subsequently had them withdrawn. The figure came to €27 million over the last five or six years and €8 million in 2008. Can the Minister of State guarantee that this money will be put back into sports funding or that it will not be lost to sports capital funding? He must be aware of the desperation among sports clubs and organisations for any type of financial encouragement, however much reduced. As regards the review, we obviously want to get away from a situation where Deputies are ringing clubs and telling them to get their applications in as they are going to be granted money. We must end that practice, and introduce a fair system. The money that has been allocated is good, but it needs to be structured better than it has been in the past.

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