John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the merging of the Irish Sports Council and the National Sports Campus Development Authority, NSCDA, into sport Ireland. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, on securing cross-party support for this Bill, which is in keeping with what sport does every day of the week.

The governance of sport has made much progress over recent times and this is a further step on that journey. Governance needs to efficient with sport professionally run in a transparent and effective manner where all ages, abilities and genders are catered for, encouraged and coached to the highest standard in a positive and ethical manner. The high-performance athlete needs to be supported, as well as the recreational athlete who is making an effort to improve his or her health and fitness.

Sport at high-performance level, whether individual or team, can lift the spirit of a nation, community, county or parish. We have seen a multitude of examples in athletics, boxing, golf, Gaelic football and hurling, rugby and soccer over the years which have unified people with a positivity that no other activity can match. They know all about that in Kerry this week and next week it will be the same in either Kilkenny or Tipperary. We knew that feeling nationwide following grand slams in rugby, success in the soccer world cup or when rejoicing with the world championship and Olympic successes of the likes of Sonia O’Sullivan, Eamonn Coghlan, Katie Taylor, Derval O’Rourke and Michael Carruth. However, all of this end-product needs proper structures, the highest standards of governance and transparency, the targeted funding that gets the maximum output at the front line and the best facilities possible to deliver training and coaching programmes for our athletes.

The development of the sports campus at Abbotstown, including the National Aquatic Centre, has been a long time in the making since it was first mooted back at the beginning of the millennium. This campus has made enormous strides in the past three years with the transfer of the ownership of lands to the NSCDA and the lease agreements with the Football Association of Ireland, the Gaelic Athletic Association, the Irish Rugby Football Union, and the Irish Hockey Association to develop facilities at the campus. This was followed by up to 20 sporting governing bodies moving their headquarters to the site and the development of pitches, facilities including national modern pentathlon centre, the national horse sport arena, the national diving centre and a new indoor training centre.

The various developments means there can be the delivery of most modern application of sports science to our top athletes, as well as catering for minority sports which do not have the ability to generate their own funding. While all these developments are to be welcomed, there is also the need for a regional dimension to our sport facilities which complement our national sport campus. Some facilities have been developed over the years in Limerick, for example, as well as the magnificent new track and facilities in collaboration with Athlone Institute of Technology. Recently, I attended the national féile under-14 football finals at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in Bekan, County Mayo. Thousands of participants and their parents were actively involved over several days in the event which demonstrates the many benefits of such regional centres of excellence. The Connacht centre has also developed a partnership with the Health Service Executive, HSE, and the Irish Blood Transfusion Service that will allow research to be conducted to establish intervention programmes that will be beneficial to the entire population. This ties in with the Minister of State’s criteria for the sports capital grants getting maximum use of facilities. As a teacher and a coach over the years, I saw facilities close down at 4 o’clock in the afternoon due to insurance problems and so forth. I am glad many of these obstacles have been overcome. For me, these developments demonstrate how sport facilities can be used to the maximum and, at the same time, cater and support our elite athletes, as well as improving the fitness and health of the nation.

It is important that the outcome of this Bill and the establishment of sport Ireland will increase efficiencies around duplication while bringing the required transparency and accountability at all levels in administration and management of all involved in sport Ireland, the various governing bodies and individually funded athletes.

5 o’clock

In the past there have been some horror stories of examples of governance that was not up to the highest standard in some organisations, but I do not wish to get involved with them today. Much money has been spent on legal matters. In such situations sport does not benefit. In some cases top coaches, for example, in boxing in particular did not get contracts from certain governing bodies. I refer to people who would be snapped up in other countries. In some cases, high performance plans were submitted after the money was spent. I hope the steps that are now being taken will ensure such occurrences are firmly in the past.

I welcome the provision in the Bill relating to Sport Ireland's responsibility on doping in sport. New provisions will assist in combating how doping in sport has developed and continue the good work done by the Irish Sports Council under Sport Ireland. Doping and cheating in sport must be eliminated once and for all. Sometimes one only realises the impact of it years later. Top Irish athletes such as Sonia O’Sullivan, Senator Eamon Coughlan and Derval O’Rourke missed out on medals at various times but the reality is they were denied medals by other athletes who were not clean. It makes one realise how important it is to eliminate cheats and have an even playing field.

As Chairman of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, I will conclude my contribution by listing the recommendations of the committee based on presentations by stakeholders, submissions, committee hearings and analysis of secondary sources. Many of the points have been covered previously in the debate. The first recommendation is that the possibility of Sport Ireland finding alternative forms of funding for both high-profile national and grassroots level sport would be given greater priority in the legislation. Taking account of best practice and recent developments at EU level it might also be necessary to consider whether tax revenue for betting could be ring-fenced as additional funding for sport. Deputy Wallace raised alcohol sponsorship of sport. I agree that by all means we should phase out such sponsorship but when an alternative funding source is found.

Discussions were held with representatives of the Federation of Irish Sports. Reference was made to tax breaks for capital investment in sport. I am not sure people are aware of them, as they are not used to the maximum. It might be necessary to do some tweaking in conjunction with the Department of Finance to incentivise development programmes for minority sports in particular, which cannot raise their own revenue. I urge that such a change would be facilitated. I accept the Bill has a specific technical purpose but I urge the Minister of State to consider advancing the recommendation in conjunction with the Department of Finance.

It is proposed to expand the remit of Sport Ireland in terms of its scope of activities, in particular in the provision of education and information programmes and the development of strategies to increase participation in sport at all levels. The Minister of State has outlined the target he set for increased participation.

The third recommendation is in the context of the current co-operation in the area of coaching between the Irish Sports Council, which will become Sport Ireland, and Sport Northern Ireland. It may be worth considering whether the benefits of broader cross-Border synergies could best be advanced by being specifically addressed in the Bill or in future legislation. A loophole exists to the effect that some elite athletes from Northern Ireland are double funded. I am not sure how that can be achieved but the intention is to achieve an even playing field.

The Minister of State referred to the fact that research will be carried out in collaboration with Sport Ireland. One of the stakeholders expressed concern about how that would be rolled out.

Recommendation 5 called for greater specificity in the legislation on the use of facilities by institutions fully or partly funded by the public purse, other than sports clubs. Recommendation 6 relates to the lack of regulation in adventure activities. The Minister of State addressed the matter in his contribution. In particular, more specificity may be necessary on the powers of Sport Ireland to “facilitate, through the promulgation of guidelines and codes of practice, standards of good conduct, fair play and doping-free sport in either or both competitive sport and recreational sport”. That should include non-traditional extreme sports such as iron man competitions.

I welcome the Bill as a progressive step. The Minister of State referred to the contribution of the sports capital programme. I very much support what he said in that regard. One never has enough money to give out; it is similar to the miracle of the loaves and fishes. The Minister of State said he hopes to have a third round of funding. I hope some of those who were disappointed in the previous two years will be able to avail of that. The work of the sports partnerships around the country is magnificent. I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, luck, along with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. I thank the previous Minister, Deputy Varadkar, for his efforts in attracting sports events and sports tourism to this country. The Rugby World Cup is a significant target. When looking at “Six One News” last week I though Martin O’Neill had picked the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, in the squad for the forthcoming European championships.

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