Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In every community there are challenges. The challenges in Lusk might relate to the size of the community but in rural areas very small communities find it difficult to bring forward the amount of assistance required to make up the 15% that is needed in many cases for the grant aid to be drawn down. The Ceann Comhairle and other Deputies are aware that a tightly knit community might have very difficult hurdles to jump in coming up with the initial seed capital whereas the communities Deputy Farrell refers to, the enormous sprawling urban communities, have a different challenge which in the first instance involves building the community and bringing people together. That is where I see the sports partnership as critical. The leadership provided within the local authority and the sports partnerships plays an important role in that because much of the work Deputy Farrell refers to involves building community and the capacity to enable communities to apply for funding, whether through their Leader company or through the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the national lottery or whatever.

The Deputy is right about participation and I have made clear since my appointment as Minister of State in this Department that my primary concern is not in respect of large edifices or Ceauşescu-like monuments as someone once described them, but facilities to encourage people to participate at whatever level suits them, regardless of their ability and of their stage in life, whether young or not so young. In developing this programme, it is important that I maximise the amount of money we can spend and the impact. I welcome any opportunity to review any documents from any part of the country in this regard.

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