Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It would be a first for this place, all right.

I was at an event the other day by Turas Counselling at the Downtown Hub in Dundalk to launch its new gambling counselling service. Oisín McConville was there for the launch and he gave a powerful speech on what he said was his favourite subject, himself, that lasted for 35 minutes. He got into the ins and outs of the impact of gambling. That particular service is now available in Dundalk. There may be issues regarding a dual diagnosis pilot project in which Turas Counselling is participating. I need to revisit that with the Ministers of State who were here earlier. However, that is for another day.

I am glad to see Deputy Fitzpatrick is here. I hope he is going to tell us that everything is still very positive in terms of the GAA stadium in Dundalk. I am perfectly situated in the town, within walking distance of the stadium. There is huge support for that project and I know Deputy Fitzpatrick, the Louth county board and many others have put their shoulders to the wheel to progress it. We hope Croke Park and whoever else is necessary to deliver it will agree to do so.

A considerable number of speakers have mentioned the particular issues that can pertain to the sports capital grant. We all know about the successes. Everybody wants to see that funding coming in but, as Deputy Andrews said, there is an issue with the payment timescale that can put some projects under pressure. I agree with previous speakers that we need to see that addressed. It is also about ensuring local authorities have the facilities to deal with this. We need some sort of macro piece of work to be done between them and the local sports partnerships that would look at doing a needs analysis and then helping clubs where necessary. Not all organisations have the capacity to do that.

I was contacted by Newtown Blues GFC regarding a sports capital application it has submitted. The people there probably think I have more sway than I do.

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