Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, that is what I would have hoped to hear in the reply, namely, that the methodology is very clear. When the Minister of State goes to announce the grants, will there be checks and balances to make sure that is how it is applied? Given the new politics that has been talked about, this is one of the areas where people will look very critically if there is a deviation from that.

I have raised with the Minister of State on numerous occasions, albeit not in the context of sports capital grants, the significant deficit in respect of sports facilities in north County Kildare. Despite having a population of 60,000, not one town in the area has a swimming pool. When people ask me why their town does not have a swimming pool I tell them it is in County Kerry because that is where the Minister with responsibility for sports when money was available for new swimming pool projects was from. People want a return on the money being spent on sports facilities because that money belongs to them.

Encouraging people to live in towns rather than the countryside requires making towns attractive places to live and sports and leisure facilities are a vital part of that.

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