Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to say a few words on this Bill. I am not an expert on any area of sport and I am probably one of the biggest offenders in regard to many of the issues I will raise. I have only felt sorry for the Minister of State on one occasion since he took up the job and that was on the night of the World Cup Final when I saw the cup being presented in Rio de Janeiro. I regretted that he could not make it from Castlebar to Brazil within the timeframe required. I had a vision of the Minister of State and the Taoiseach being three quarters of the way across the Atlantic Ocean in the Learjet. However, I expect he got there for the celebrations later on in the Copacabana beach hotel.

I acknowledge the fact the Minister of State has been the only one with responsibility for sport who has allocated the capital grants in an equitable and fair manner. I hope there will be a third round of them in the next 12 months or so. There will be a temptation to allocate them in a certain manner but I hope he continues in the same manner and tradition. It is important to acknowledge that he has been equitable in an area in which equity has not existed heretofore.

Sport should be a subject in the leaving certificate. It is an issue which has been touched on several times in the past. Many people put in a huge amount of time training and preparing to represent their schools in all areas of sport. I appreciate the difficulty trying to measure it but it could be an optional subject. One can do music and art in the leaving certificate so I do not see why one cannot do sport because it is such an important subject which touches on everybody's life. That idea is not an original one and it has been floating around for a long time. I would like to think that some Government some day will take it seriously.

The second idea is one of my own but I will give it to the Minister of State. I hope he will be in a position to run with it. He will be familiar with the concept of freshers' week in the universities where there is the Fine Gael table, the Labour Party table, the Reform Alliance table, the handball table, the tennis table and so on. There are difficulties in communities nowadays, in particular when people move to an area and do not know other people. When one is out and about during an election or a by-election, in particular, people will say there is nothing for young people to do in the area. If one examines an area in this country, no matter how big or small, there will be a multiplicity of clubs in the area. For whatever reason, the perception to the outsider is that they are closed shops, which they are not.

I suggest we designate a day per year - early in September is probably preferable with the schools starting but it could be in the first or second week of January - as a community day where the local hall in every town and village is set up with every club in the area. I suggested this to the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, but he did not take it up. Perhaps the Minister of State might do so. People could come along from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m to see what clubs and organisations in the community they could join because clubs are looking for additional members. This applies to historical societies, archaeological societies, bridge clubs, GAA clubs, etc. They are all crying out for volunteers. Many people in the community do not have the wherewithal to break into these clubs. If we could designate a day per year for this to be done, it would prove hugely successful and it would get people to make a contribution and avail of facilities. One of the difficulties in communities is that there are very strong clubs but there is no overall umbrella group to bring them together and to let the public know what is available. That is something the Minister of State could look at with his staff.

I refer to the allocation of capital grants, in particular when given to GAA, rugby or soccer clubs. I would like to see a requirement on clubs to put walkways around the grounds. Some 20 or 30 years ago, very few mothers and young children went to games but now, given the way things are, parents are always there. They should be able to walk around the pitch when there is training or a match going on. Some clubs have done this very successfully. Ballymore Eustace in Kildare and Tullaroan in Kilkenny have excellent facilities. In the winter when the facilities open for training for the local club, the walkway is floodlit. People usually cannot walk in a rural area due to lack of lighting. The allocation of grants could include a provision that clubs be required to make an effort in this regard. In particular if a club is putting in a new facility, there should be a requirement on it to put in a walkway for spectators and others so that they may use the facility for walking during training.

The legislation concerns the amalgamation of quangos. We all detest the concept of quangos and yet no organisation sees itself as a quango. It is important to amalgamate them. In the area of health, all the organisations probably do good work but it is impossible to stand over the number of organisations we have. The difficulty in regard to funding by the HSE was in the headlines a few months ago. I am sure it is still there, except it is not in the headlines anymore. Approximately, 2,000 organisations were allocated funding by the Department, totalling €1 billion. It is virtually impossible to keep track of these. Almost all of them were set up with good intentions and they all carry out good work but a proliferation of them are using a greater amount of administrative time and funding than is necessary.

A classic example is our aid agencies, including Trócaire, GOAL and so on. I do not understand why one cannot say to each aid agency to cover a certain area, whether the South Pacific, North Africa or elsewhere. Rather than have three or four of them in every country, we should have one in each country. It would make it much easier to operate. One would have greater economies of scale and one would get much better value for money.

I am a strong advocate of Ireland giving money to Irish Aid. In a household with an income of €100,000, somewhere in the region of €350 to €400 goes to Irish Aid while if a household has an income of €50,000, somewhere in the region of €200 goes to it. We have water charges and property tax but if we said to people that there would be a new tax for Irish Aid and if people had to make out a cheque for €200, they would be much more concerned about how the money was actually spent. When dealing with public money, we must ensure we are getting value for money and that the money is going to the correct project.

I refer to the membership of the board, which is really important. The Government has faced controversy in recent days in regard to membership of boards. It is certainly something that does not instil confidence in the public. For the life of me, I cannot understand how successive Governments can be so foolish in doing what they do. They have no regard for public opinion. The composition of this board is really important. A good friend of mine, Mick O'Dwyer, used to be on the board of the Sports Council of Ireland but he was taken off it or replaced for whatever reason. He was someone who had probably more knowledge than most to offer in the area. He gave freely of his time and made a huge difference to the sporting public in Wicklow in the four or five years he was there. Most of it was done in a voluntary capacity and it gave a great lift to the county.

I know the Minister of State must give out the funding fairly but the GAA in Wicklow probably has one of the most poorly developed county grounds in the country in Aughrim.

Perhaps when the Minister of State is on his weekend break or over Christmas he might head down that way to take a look. I accept that funding has to be allocated in a balanced and fair way but there was an application last year and development is needed. We do not expect the €30 million that Cork received but we would be happy if we could get a fraction of that figure.

I will use this opportunity to speak about sports that are probably outside the remit of this Bill but it is important for me to get certain matters off my chest. The organisation with which I am most familiar is the GAA, which has many positive aspects. We do not generally concentrate on the positives but the volunteer ethos is a positive element of the GAA. One only needs to go to any town or village on a Saturday to see children being coached by parents, friends and relatives, and people coming around with sandwiches and tea. A couple of GAA men are in the Chamber, namely, Deputy Harrington and Fitzpatrick. It is a marvellous organisation and the passion associated with it will never cease to make me wonder. When I was in Croke Park on Sunday for the game, I saw a Kerryman in the stands who could have been in the middle of a battle scene on the series "The Vikings", such was his animation. Given that Kerry has 36 or 37 all-Irelands, I could not understand his animation. The last occasion on which Wicklow was in a Leinster final was 1897 and we never won a final. In 1902, Bray Emmets won an all-Ireland but it did so under the banner of Dublin. We are one of two counties, the other being Fermanagh, which have never won a provincial title. I ask the Minister of State to remember that when he is allocating funding and to give us a lift. However, we make a vital contribution to the economy and to other sports. I do not know if Dublin ever won an all-Ireland without a Wicklow man on board.

There are also downsides to the GAA, one of which is the acceptance of verbal abuse. I have been no angel in the past because we can get very emotive but we cannot tolerate verbal abuse, whether from spectators, referees, players or mentors. The GAA has taken great strides in seeking to create a safer environment for children but the emphasis on winning at juvenile level has a detrimental effect on players and is causing dropouts. The GAA has a problem with the lack of support for club games. This problem is disguised by all-Ireland semi-finals and the rush for tickets, but most of the county grounds, with the exception of a few high profile counties, attract tiny crowds relative to the numbers attending 15 or 20 years ago. I realise there are other competitions, as well as Sky Sports and the Premiership, that did not exist in the past, but we have to consider ways of restructuring the intercounty championship along champions league lines, with club games on alternate Sundays. I recognise there are difficulties with dual players but this has to be done. The club scene stops in many counties between June and the end of August, which means they cram their matches into a short period. This is unfair to the majority of players. I would love to see a home and away champions league. I attended the match between Donegal and Laois in Carrick-on-Shannon last year. It was great to see the crowds of Donegal and Laois supporters coming into Carrick-on-Shannon. If, for example, Wicklow travelled to Mayo or vice versaon a summer weekend, it would attract a great crowd and benefit the Minister of State's dual responsibilities of tourism and sport. People would earmark three or four weekends away during the summer.

We are often wedded to concepts of tradition in the GAA. A fellow Wicklow man, Jack Boothman, was one of the drivers behind the new Croke Park, which is a fantastic stadium. I have often thought that it might not be a bad idea to build stadiums on greenfield sites with access to public transport and extensive parking and which do not impinge on residents. This is something we should not rule out. While we are wedded to the old concepts of locations, I am sure that if we had built Croke Park at Baldonnel or somewhere on the northside of Dublin ten or 15 years ago, we would have established a tradition.

Earlier speakers welcomed the involvement of everyone in sport, including people with disabilities. In my home area, individuals from the Lalor Centre have participated in the Special Olympics with great success. The advent of women's football is also welcome. When I was a teenager only one women played football in our local club, and she played on the boys' team. Women in our area are now more dedicated than the men and there is greater camaraderie between them. That has to be encouraged.

The overemphasis on winning at the underage level can result in a failure to give all panel members a game. Sometimes there are 20 or 30 players on a panel but only 15 or 16 get a game. It should be obligatory to allow everyone to participate. I take my hat off to rugby for its efforts in regard to player development and participation. Those who are not wonderful at the age of 12 or 13 years may be disheartened and give up if they do not get a game, whereas they might otherwise develop into fine players. There are a considerable number of late developers. I do not think the young player who was awarded man of the match last Sunday played at minor level for Kerry. Derek Lyng, who won several all-Ireland medals for Kilkenny, did not play at minor level and was not on the St. Kieran's team in his final year. Players can develop late.

Rugby shows me that money works. I recall attending provincial matches 20 or 30 years ago when Munster beat the All-Blacks and were surprisingly beaten by Connacht a few weeks later in the Sportsground. The crowd of spectators barely filled the old stand. Now, however, the Aviva is packed for Munster-Leinster matches. This is in large part due to sponsorship and the way in which the money has been spent on looking after players, coaching and development. We speak about the threat that soccer poses to Gaelic football. I am an advocate of all sports. I do not care if someone plays tennis, hockey or whatever else once he or she is participating. I have associated with the GAA but I have no preference for any particular sport. The GAA has a lot to learn, however. My concern is for players who are dropping out of the GAA and will never play soccer or rugby. We can learn from rugby, which is eating into the GAA in many areas.

With respect to soccer, Deputy Finian McGrath lamented the fact that we do not have an all-island team. It would be nice to have an all-island team but it is nonetheless good that the European Championship will be here in 2020. I do not know if the Minister of State will still be in the hot seat but perhaps he will book some tickets. He might be managing the Irish team at that stage, the way things are going, although I do not think either of us will be playing. It will be a welcome opportunity to showcase the country. I do not know whether it is proposed to hold matches in the Aviva or Croke Park. Nothing should be ruled in or out. It is important that facilities are shared.

With regard to swimming and track and field, when the Olympics or the European championships take place, questions always arise about whether the money is being utilised correctly. I do not have enough expertise to answer those questions but I am sure it is something the Minister of State has investigated. It is important that we have centres of excellence and excellent athletes. When Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly were on the go, there was huge interest in cycling. Interest in cycling is increasing again, albeit for health reasons rather than because of the existence of national icons.

I mentioned walks around pitches but we should also consider how to amalgamate facilities. Johnny Giles played on the street and when we were growing up we played in yards and back gardens. These options are no longer available for most children because there is insufficient space in their gardens. We have to allocate areas in addition to the main facilities, be they green spaces, walls against which one can hit a hurling ball or redeveloped handball alleys. Handball is a fantastic sport that has died away in this country. I would love to see the Minister of State working with the GAA to find a way of resurrecting handball because it costs little to participate in it and there are derelict handball alleys throughout the country. A scheme could be developed to revive the sport.

There are the bones of a facility and with a little input and creative thinking, there could be a place - generally in the centre of towns and villages - which people would be able to access for little or no money. As facilities are developed it is important that if demand for a sport changes or there are other issues, they can be integrated with another sport. There is no point building a hospice or crèche in the middle of nowhere. A crèche, for example, should be attached to a school so that if demand decreases, the facility can be tied in with schools.

I do not know the story with water charges for GAA and other sporting clubs. I may have to follow up the issue with Irish Water as I do not expect the Minister to know about this because there is much uncertainty. I would not like to see sporting facilities being under-utilised because of water charges.

A survey was carried out by the college in Maynooth a few years ago on the newly developed areas around Lucan, Ratoath, etc. The evidence indicated that what gelled the community most was sport, including GAA, rugby and tennis. Any bit of money put into sporting facilities by the Government, as we have said time and again, will keep people out of prisons and hospitals. I have heard the Minister for Health banging his fist on the table, seeking €500 million or €600 million, with others having a go at him and calling him disloyal, as such discussions should occur behind closed doors. The Minister of State would have my support and that of anybody I could muster if he banged his fist on the table to seek as much money as we can spare to go into sport. Every euro spent on sport is worth its weight in gold. I wish the best to the Minister of State and ask him to keep up his work.

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