David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response/ I acknowledge that there are many schools which open their doors and make their facilities available. There are also quite a number of them that do not and will not. It is wrong that we have hundreds of millions of euros being made available by the taxpayer for these facilities and yet the boards of management and the management of the schools refuse to even engage with local community groups who are crying out for activities and are worried about their children hanging around the streets at night with nowhere to go. We know where that can lead.

I ask the Minister of State to consider some proactive measures to reach out and engage with these schools and communities and to call on them publicly to make their facilities available? Perhaps we can also use some of the funding that is out there - the Minister of State outlined tens of millions of euros in that regard - to cover the insurance and the caretaker costs that are very often used as a reason why schools will not be made available. Would the Minister of State not agree with me that it is wrong that these facilities are locked up, especially where there is nothing available in a community which may have expanded, with many new housing developments and many teenagers hanging around with nowhere to go. This is a positive move which does not cost a great deal of money because the facilities are already there.

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