Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of the Bill is to provide for the establishment of Sport Ireland, or Spórt Éireann, and for the dissolution of the Irish Sports Council and the National Sports Campus Development Authority and to amalgamate and rationalise the activities of each of these organisations. It gives us a great opportunity to look at the significance of sport in our country.

I commend the Minister of State, my colleague in County Mayo. He has embodied the whole idea of sport and has brought great energy and passion to the job. Although he is the Minister of State with responsibility for sport, he has sometimes doubled up as the Minster for Health to try to get the nation healthy. I congratulate him on that and I know many people feel the same way about how he has undertaken his job as Minister of State.

When we think of sport, we initially think of all the headline things, such as an international soccer match and the All-Ireland and the highs and lows that go with them. Sport is unifying and gives us a great sense of both national and county identity. If anything unites people of different political persuasions, beliefs or otherwise in County Mayo, it is when the county jersey is worn. It is the same everywhere. We all get together and put on the Mayo jersey, or the jersey of whatever county we come from. We are very proud it, even though, for the most part, other than cheering on the team, we have very little to do with it. It is the same when an Irish team or athlete competes on our part. We get such joy and a thrill from seeing the spectacle of the participation and the hoped win, which may come from it. However, we all know those are the headline sports but there is so much more going on in terms of sport.

Sport is an integral part of creating a healthy nation. It is fair to say that the most successful nations are those whose governments have invested in the health of their citizens. This is very visible in things like education, health care and social welfare. In the case of health care, it is only recently that the Government has moved from being a mere bystander in this crucial health component, physical exercise, to actually facilitating individuals and groups and not only professional or elite athletes. The importance of sport is getting through to people and they are being facilitated. Facilities are being put in place and groups and organisations are being funded. Deputy McFadden referred to the best example of this, namely, the sports capital grants. Many sporting organisations around the country have benefit from sports capital grants. They are putting in so much effort to bring sports to children and adults and it gives them such a boost.

The Minister of State has endeavoured to deliver and divide up the sports capital grants in the fairest way he can in order provide real benefits to all sorts of diverse organisations, minority groups and sporting groups promoting women in sport, which would not have received the same attention in the past that sporting organisations supporting men would have had, which are all to be commended.

As we look forward as a nation, we should look at how we want to grow a healthy nation. Physical exercise, like a healthy diet, is a learned habit and a responsible Government encourages and invests in this. It makes economic sense in that we have a more productive nation and people who are less inclined to be sick. We know that many illnesses, including certain types of diabetes and certain mental health issues, are related to, or at least made worse by, lifestyle. It is great we have many mod cons and technology which, in many ways, takes physical labour out of our lives, work and leisure time but there is a price for that. It means we have to push people towards exercise.

We all have our own experiences and knowledge of groups which are pushing out the boundaries and employing new thinking in bringing sport to the ordinary person. In my town, Ballina Athletic Club has a fit-for-life programme. Periodically, it runs a scheme called coach to 5 km. In the past, people would have been fearful saying they were going for a run or a cycle because they thought one had to be gifted in some way to be athletic. Now one sees the joy and thrill of people who never in their wildest dreams thought they were athletic. I would count myself among them. I would not have been sport inclined. I played basketball but I think I got on the team because I was tall and not because I was athletic.

People have a sense of personal achievement when they challenge themselves. Often the challenge in life is not about being better than the person beside me but about battling with the clock. It is about personal improvement.

I recently attended the launch of a walking festival organised by the Foxford Ramblers, with which the Minister of State will be familiar, for 4 and 5 October. The Foxford Ramblers meet on a weekly basis to go on walks and open trails to people in a guided and safe manner so they can see the fantastic Mayo countryside. The poet, Pat Upton, recited poetry at the launch which blew me away. It was inspired by the landscape. He brought home to me that when one gets onto the wilds of the trails or climbs a mountain, whether Nephin or Croke Patrick, the experience goes beyond the physical to enter, in his description, a soulful experience. He spoke about how he sees the landscape reflected in the people, whether in Kerry or Mayo, with the distinctions this entails. He was describing something one feels instinctively when one goes on a trek for several hours. It is uplifting for the soul and the mind. Given our great landscape and our issues with mental health, going outdoors for physical exercise could be seen as a tonic.

I recently attended my first active schools flag event at Behy National School. The active schools programme aims to bring sports to the daily lives of children. It goes beyond the 30 minutes or one hour of physical education provided in class to educate children about the importance of healthy lifestyles, diets and minds. A healthy body equals a healthy mind and these children will be more fit for life and learning. It is fantastic.

There are also knock-on effects for tourism and economic value from initiatives like the Great Western Greenway. We are also commencing the development of a greenway between Ballina and Killalla along the River Moy. I thank the Minister of State for the €250,000 in seed money provided for this project. We are now looking for further funding through the rural development programme and Leader. This will be a major tourist attraction for north Mayo and will help to put the area on the map. The project also goes hand-in-glove with the Wild Atlantic Way. I acknowledge all that the Minister of State has done in this regard and he is welcome to come back to the area for walks. It is a pleasure to deal with him on these issues because he likes to see progress and to work with local groups.

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