Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

A very welcome signal went out to clubs this week about their applications. I welcome the Minister of State's very strong focus on equality of participation. There is an outdated attitude evident which, thankfully, I think is disappearing. "Keep those girls off the good grass" is one of the things we hear in some of the more outdated places.

To return to Deputy Stanton's query, Tramore is a case in point in that the availability of land is incredibly tight. I have a rugby club that is dying to get its hands on a sporting facility. I also have an athletics club that would happily co-locate with it. We have some brilliant initiatives in terms of our AFC and GAA clubs in particular. In places that have an expanding population – Tramore is certainly one of those – and where local authority land becomes very limited as a result, there is a need for some way to help these clubs to get their foot onto the first rung of the ladder because without that, it is very difficult for them to get the ball rolling.

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