Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her response. The DIT campus on Aungier Street is a huge facility and is going to be redeveloped. Ultimately, it will probably be a build-to-rent building like the one at the DIT site on Kevin Street. That building will be 14 storeys high and will have a huge impact on the area. The construction is already having a huge impact on local residents on Kevin Street and Bishop Street. It is not going to add anything to the area. It is going to bring in a huge number of people.

As I said, the area lacks sports facilities for local sports and football clubs. I know the Minister of State is associated with Granada Football Club, which is a fantastic club with great facilities and that is great to see. I know the club could always do with more facilities but the reality is that for those around Kevin Street there is a tiny pitch - it is hardly the size of the floor space in this room - on Digges Street. Kids training and playing for any of the local clubs, including the Iveagh Trust or the Iveagh Celtic club and Aungier Street have to travel to Crumlin to play on a full sized astro turf pitch or even to train on a decent sized astro turf or grass pitch. They have to travel quite a significant distance and it is very hard to get young children to travel such distances just to train on a Tuesday and Thursday evening. The Iveagh Celtic club and the Aungier Street club do fantastic work in the local community but they do not have the facilities.

I met a group of older people yesterday who were saying that there are no facilities in the area. We do not even have a swimming pool. Lots of areas have pools and sports facilities which are so important for a functioning, healthy community but they are all lacking in the area. There is no reason sports facilities cannot be made available on the Aungier Street campus. I am not suggesting that we take over the entire DIT campus but that we develop a sports and leisure centre on the site. That is very doable and realistic but there must be a commitment and an acknowledgement that communities in the inner city have been neglected for years. We must make amends for that and that is what this Government needs to do.

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