James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to contribute to this debate on the Sport Ireland Bill and welcome the Minister of State to the House. I was responsible for getting his name on the link road between the M4 and the M5 some time ago and I hope to be able to get his name on a number of sporting developments in my constituency of Longford Westmeath following the next round of funding. As a member of Legan Sarsfields GAA club and many other sporting organisations in County Longford, I know all too well the benefits of sport for young people. Sport is the bedrock of every community in the country. Play and physical activity are important to one's development, improving health and reducing the likelihood of disease, as was outlined by many Members today. In addition to this, sport and games teach young people about the importance of co-operation and inclusion. Sport binds local groups together and provides an outlet for young people who might otherwise be drawn into drugs and crime.

Deputy Timmins referred to the promotion of handball in the 1930s when a huge number of handball alleys were built at great expense to communities not long after we won our independence. I am sorry to say that many of those alleys are now in a state of dilapidation. I agree with Deputy Timmins that we must do something to promote handball because it is a great sport which keeps participants very fit and active. Every muscle and limb in the body is active during a game of handball.

I commend the GAA, the FAI and the governing bodies for rugby which do great work. So many people voluntarily give a huge amount of their time to those organisations. There are more than 280,000 volunteers involved in sporting organisations, day in and day out. They bring large numbers of young people to and from games and so forth, as was very evident last Sunday in Croke Park. One sees the huge involvement of young people at all levels in sporting organisations, which is great for sport. It is great to get people involved at a young age.

One area that has been neglected over the years is that of access to our rivers and lakes. Something must be done to promote access to our waterways. We have some of the finest waterways in the world. We have come a long way in terms of the development of the Royal Canal which starts in Dublin and runs to Clondra in Longford. There are walkways along certain parts of the route but we must develop the entire channel, provide more footpaths and make it more accessible for those who want to engage in canoeing, fishing and other sporting activities. Many people would love to participate in water sports on our waterways. I spoke to a number of German visitors over the summer who said that we have some of the finest waterways in Europe but that accessibility was a huge problem.

I was particularly pleased to read in section 7 that Sport Ireland will be developing a long-term strategy for increasing participation in sport at local level. The merger of the Irish Sports Council and the National Sports Campus Development Authority is important. It is a smart decision as it streamlines sporting policy under a single agency. To put it simply, we are placing the responsibility for sport in the hands of one agency rather than having it divided between two. It is also an important part of our proposals in the programme for Government regarding the duplication of agencies and boards. Nothing represents Government waste more than the plethora of agencies set up by Fianna Fáil during the so-called boom years. We are now streamlining Government, making it smaller and cheaper to run and giving better value for money to the public from our scarce resources.

Part 4 details Sport Ireland's proposed responsibilities for addressing doping in sport. Aside from threatening the integrity and reputation of sport, doping puts athletes' health at risk. It is cheating and is fundamentally contrary to the spirit and principle of sport. One of the most important provisions in the Bill will be the sharing of information between Sport Ireland, the Garda Síochána and the Irish Medicines Board. It is my belief that co-operation between these organisations will play a major part in reducing the presence of doping in sport.

I also note that Sport Ireland is preparing and submitting a plan for the development of a national sports campus. The proposed site will see a whole range of amenities, including a national indoor athletics training centre and a national field sports training centre catering for rugby, soccer, Gaelic games and hockey as well as a multi-sport national training centre which will provide world-class training facilities for more than 20 sports. I welcome this prospect because it will provide our athletes with a state-of-the-art training base and the supports needed to compete with the best athletes in the world.

I acknowledge the wonderful regional sports centre in Athlone Institute of Technology. I and my former colleague, the late Deputy Nicky McFadden, kept pressure on the Government to deliver funding for that facility. It has been the headquarters for our national community games in recent years and has acted as a training ground for many of our present and future Olympians.

I have always believed that sport builds communities and establishes a sense of pride in one's parish, county and country. It drives tourism and contributes millions to the economy each year. It is imperative that the Government prioritises sport as a valuable social tool and the introduction of this Bill will go a long way towards preparing, training and enhancing the skills of future Irish athletes while at the same time ensuring that sport gets the recognition from Government that it requires and deserves. I compliment the Minister of State on bringing this Bill before the House today.

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