Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

South Dublin County Council, SDCC, received sports capital funding to supply a pavilion, dressing rooms and parks throughout the county in 2019. It was very welcome. Included in this funding were dressing rooms, showers and meeting rooms in Collinstown Park. Collinstown FC, which plays in the park, is a well-run, family-orientated football team in north Clondalkin. At present, the club has 24 teams, with 400 players, ranging from nursery level right up to adult. The club is at the heart of my community.

The club is reliant on the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board, DDLETB, to have enough staff available to open the sports hall in the local school for matches. This has led to times recently when matches could have been called off. It has also led to boys and girls having no changing rooms or toilet facilities.

The way the capital sports grants are structured has meant that not one shovel has been turned on the new dressing rooms in Collinstown Park. The grants are structured in such a way that SDCC must spend the previous sports capital grants prior to starting to undertake the new projects on its agenda. This delay has led to spiralling costs. Originally, SDCC received funding for a pavilion in Collinstown in the amount of €225,000. This would have been sufficient in 2019. However, because of the increase in costs during the delay, it was necessary to apply for a further grant. This application was successful. The amount provided was a further €230,000, which was on top of the funding received in 2019. This is welcome, but nothing has happened. I fear the delay will mean that this sum is again not going to be sufficient and that the costs are going to continue to rise. I urge the Minister of State to consider changing these rules or to engage with SDCC. I say this because, ultimately, it is costing the public money and delaying much-needed community infrastructure.

There is also no all-weather public pitch planned in north Clondalkin for clubs like Collinstown to use. SDCC has a sports pitch strategy and plans for future needs. The council has made recommendations regarding pitch demand and capacity and future requirements up to 2035. This is a welcome initiative, but it must cover the whole county. There are major omissions in the council's plans. Palmerstown FC is another fantastic community soccer club in my area. It currently has 180 players, from all ages, playing for 16 teams. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin and I recently had representatives from the club come into the Houses of the Oireachtas for a meeting. They told us that the council has plans to place five all-weather pitches throughout the county but not in Palmerstown. The response I received from the council was disappointing. There are no proposals at present for an all-weather pitch to be located in Palmerstown and the resources provided for the provision of the all-weather pitches are already fully allocated. Palmerstown is a smaller and unique area, separate from its bigger neighbours like Clondalkin and Lucan in my area. It tends to be forgotten about when it comes to public sporting facilities. Again, then, I have another request. I ask that the Minister of State engage with SDCC and consider whether additional funding can be provided so that all areas in Dublin Mid-West can avail of public sports facilities.

In 2005, SDCC, which I am referring to frequently, provided land and funding for an all-weather pitch and clubhouse for the South Dublin Football League, SDFL. In the 2005 lease, the permitted use was stated to be for a clubhouse and an all-weather pitch for a non-profit community and sporting purpose. It is my understanding that in September 2019 the SDFL merged into the Dublin District Schoolboy League and ceased to be an organisation. However, the SDFL committee still exists in Ballyowen in Lucan, where it has its headquarters. The rooms and pitches are still being out under the aegis of the SDFL. Money is paid into bank accounts that have the name of the SDFL. The facilities in question were originally leased to the SDFL by the SDCC on a not-for-profit basis, but the information I have received is that the SDFL, which no longer exists, is charging local clubs and groups high commercial rates for the use of its facilities. Clubs are being charged almost €300 to play a match. The clubhouse has also been rented out for profit. Will the Minister of State look into how public funding was used to build a public facility on public land and then leased to an organisation that the longer exists? This facility was leased to the SDFL, which is no longer in operation. My community is deriving no benefit from the publicly funded facility on public land. There is a commercial operation at this facility, so I would like to know where this money is going. This situation really has a smell of the old, underhanded dealings that were going on in the FAI. I have been able to get no clarity whatsoever from SDCC on why this lease is continuing when the organisation no longer exists.

My colleague, Deputy Thomas Gould, has asked me to raise an issue in respect of Ballincollig AFC, which I am happy to do. Deputy Gould has told me there is a farcical situation happening and that it warrants urgent attention from the Minister of State's Department and Cork City Council. More than 20 years ago, land was transferred to Cork County Council, where Ballincollig was then based, when the Army's old Murphy Barracks in the village closed. This land was intended to be assigned to the council, with the express intention that it would be assigned onwards to the club. Bizarrely, this has never happened, despite repeated requests to and repeated meetings with Cork County Council and now Cork City Council over this period.

The lack of title to this land has meant that the club cannot apply for grants from the sports capital grants, which we are discussing today, lottery grants or FAI grants. The club members and volunteers have kept it going over the years. They deserve to be treated with respect and not to have to continue to deal with this farcical situation. I urge the Minister of State and the Department to do anything that may be possible to resolve the situation and to give Ballincollig AFC the same rights and opportunities that other sports clubs in the village and across this State have.

We had a briefing in the audiovisual room yesterday hosted by my colleague, Deputy Andrews, with representatives from the Gaelic Players Association, GPA. Those players had one simple request. They are asking for parity for the female players in the association so they would have the same rights and resources as their male counterparts. It is 2023, and I think this should happen. Anything the Department can do to lend its support to this endeavour would be really welcome.

I wish my local football team, St. Patrick's Athletic, all the very best in next month's FAI cup final. Hopefully, we will beat Bohemians like we did two years ago.

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