Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is a good initiative and perhaps it is a victim of its own success. As it stands, many worthwhile projects will lose out. The Minister itemised the kinds of projects being considered.

I am especially interested in the Cork Institute of Technology community sports project, the University College Cork sports park and the Munster Rugby school of excellence. I hope the Minister will consider those. In any event, the major issue with the budget is that projects will be disappointed. It is a good initiative and there is scope to look at a subsequent call and additional budgetary allocation. As a side note, the Minister identified that some of the applications are for swimming pools, among other projects. I asked for this information per head of population in a parliamentary question and it was not possible to give that, but we lag behind some countries in that area.

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