Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill and commend the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, on bringing it forward. I thank and pay tribute to all those who were involved over the years in both organisations that are being merged.

It would be remiss of me not to reference the great victory in Croke Park on Sunday last by the Kerry team. As a Deputy for Kerry, I am proud of their achievements. The return of the 37th all-Ireland senior football title to the county is just as special as the first and every one in between. I congratulate the team. I wish all of the other teams which came close this year the best in the future - their day will come as well.

On a more serious note, what we saw in Croke Park, with 82,000 spectators there watching two fantastic teams battling it out to win the Sam Maguire, epitomises the strength and importance of sport, through the GAA, in every community in this country and anything that we, as public representatives, can do to help strengthen sport in our communities must be encouraged. We are a nation of sports people. We need to ensure that the tradition of sport is continued in the future and that our communities have every opportunity to engage in sport, whether at professional, amateur or pastime fun levels. That needs to start at an early age.

There is a saying in Kerry that one is born with a football in one's hand, but it is the approach we need to take as a society to start educating our youngest children about the importance of physical exercise, nutrition, diet and minding one's body, and that the greatest instruments one will ever have is one's own body. To that end, we need to look at primary education and to see how we can provide better facilities for children in schools. Many schools do not have indoor facilities for recreation and physical education. Unfortunately, we live in quite a wet country. Thankfully, it has not been so for the past four months but it usually rains much of the time here and children need to exercise for a long time every day. It helps in academic performance as well if physical exercise is involved and we need to see what can be done in that regard.

I thank the Minister of State for the latest round of sports capital funding that has gone to every county and thank him for the funding that has come to Kerry this year. On top of the 2012 funding, it is much appreciated. It makes a significant difference to clubs. It gives them a helping hand to improve their facilities and make themselves accessible to more people. Such involvement is what it is all about.

Will the Minister examine if the sports capital grants could be awarded on an annual basis? When the programme was re-introduced in 2012, there was a huge clamour to apply. Some clubs may not have been ready to apply but did so because they did not know if there would be another round of funding. Thankfully, there was this year but it would be excellent if there could be an annual round of funding and every club knew where it stood. The programme helps clubs which otherwise might not be able to raise funds, particularly with the overall economic climate over the past few years which has made it all the more difficult. This extra help from the State is welcome.

More walking and cycling greenways, a facility with which the Minister of State is aware of in his county, are coming onstream across the country. Not only are greenways an excellent way to provide an amenity for people to improve their health and maintain it, they also have a tourism and economic spin-off. I was taken aback by the success of the Westport-Achill greenway when I visited it in 2013, having been on the Newport-Mulranny section in 2010 just after it opened. Its economic spin-off and the vibrancy it has brought back to parts of west Mayo is impressive. The number of people and families, across all age groups, using this facility is also impressive. The fact that it is on an old rail line means the gradient is also amenable to cycling. We need to develop greenways further. Accordingly, I am delighted the old Glenbeigh to Renard section of the Farranfore to Valentia railway line has been given significant funding of €4 million to be developed as a greenway by Kerry County Council and South Kerry Development Partnership Limited. We can link more networks across the country to allow more tourists and local people avail of these excellent facilities.

I commend the Minister on the recent good news about the future staging of three group games and a last-16 game in the 2020 European football championship in Dublin. This is a fantastic news story for Ireland which will give us an enormous boost. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the championships in Poland in 2012. While the results were not great for our time, it was a good trip. Hopefully, we will be able to build on this announcement and look at hosting a future rugby world cup and other major international sporting events. Hosting such events will inspire younger generations to take up sport and become active. In the 1980s when our cyclists were at the very top of the international scene, many young people took it up as a sport. The successes of the Irish soccer team in 1988, 1990 and 1994 inspired a new generation of young Irish people to take up the sport. It is the same with golfers and successful football and hurling counties.

I commend this Bill to the House. They say sport and politics should never mix. However, all parties are agreed on getting the best for people in sport. I hope the various suggestions made by all parties will be considered and, where possible, implemented.

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