Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I did not mention the Connacht Rugby project, which is one of the most significant ones. The thinking in the Department about any new round should be borne in mind by anyone considering it because there is considerable work to do. Any facilities that we will be funding in the future, including the top-ups, will need to have published policies on similar access to facilities for men and women. That is an innovation I introduced. It is absolutely necessary and when we award grants, clubs will be required to set that out so that the women and men can see this is a fair division of the facilities. That is for every project.

If we are granting significant amounts of money to a particular project in an area in the future, we will need to think very hard about other sports being involved. They should not just be allowed to use the facilities, as has been required in the sports capital projects for forever and a day, but should be integrated and part of a joint venture. Those types of projects will find favour in any future round of sports capital funding.

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