Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the commitment to sport in the programme for Government. Accordingly, I would like to raise with the Tánaiste the matter of the disused and closed ice rink in Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT. This is a facility that was purchased in 2014, using public funds but, incredibly, has lain idle since then. It is the only ice rink in this jurisdiction and because it is not open it means that the Irish national ice hockey team must train in Belfast rather than in this jurisdiction. I am sure the Tánaiste can fully appreciate that is a less than ideal situation.

I am reliably informed that a number of attempts have been made in recent years to either purchase or lease the facility from DkIT, and all the attempts have been unsuccessful. Will the Tánaiste have a discussion with his colleague, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, to see if he could look into this matter and intervene if appropriate? Let us get this facility open and let us support our national teams.

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