Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a very good article in the Irish Mirrortoday which details the tremendous attraction that Government Ministers have for golf clubs and the extraordinary lengths to which they went to lobby for lottery grants for such clubs. There was a time when golf clubs were excluded from sports grants given that many thought that the clubs' own resources were enough to sustain them. What concerns me is that many clubs in disadvantaged areas did not get lottery grants and have not been treated with the proper priority. If one takes the sport of boxing, for example, boxing at club level has been very neglected in many localities. Boxing clubs could do with significant allocations in terms of facilities and so on. They have far fewer resources than many of the golf clubs that secured allocations as a result of ministerial interventions over the last while. The issue of disadvantage and partnership areas used to attract a very significant premium in terms of the allocation of lottery grants. That seems to have been eroded over time. I ask the Government to address that and to look after those who did not get grants on the last occasion.

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