Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Quite rightly, we have a significant focus on the health and well-being of our young people, in particular in the context of their access to a strong physical education, PE, curriculum. Seamount College in south County Galway is a post-primary school with an enrolment approaching 700 pupils, all of whom currently have no access to a PE facility on site. Despite repeated approaches to the Department of Education by me and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, regarding the provision of such a facility, we have had no success to date. The Department has repeatedly told us that it is focusing for the moment on the development of classroom facilities, which is a laudable ambition. It is being inconsistent in its approach, however, in that 21 schools throughout the country, as part of their refurbishment or redevelopment, have been allocated sports halls in the past five years. Two of these are located in close proximity to Seamount College, and it is right that they got that funding. Seamount College has been denied funding, however. This is an issue that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency for the 700 students who do not have access to proper sports facilities.

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