Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I know it is something he is committed to. We have spoken about it before. Encouraging clubs to collaborate particularly with local authorities under a municipal approach could deliver significant benefits to sporting organisations and opportunities for people in local communities to engage in sport across the country and, from the Deputy’s perspective, in County Galway in particular.

We all know the importance of sport to the well-being and health of our local communities. The availability and ease of access to sports facilities is central to that, whether in a club setting, on public lands or in other amenity areas. Planning for future facilities needs, locations and types is a particular focus of our current sports action plan. In the past, there was not a particular weighting in the sports capital grants towards municipal facilities. There has been support where people are collaborating but, with the sports capital grants reopening next spring, we will look at how we can try to incentivise clubs to come together and, indeed, local authorities to work together too to support that objective.

Accessing land is a particular challenge, especially in some of our cities but also across the country. This is something we will reflect on. There is no funding for land at the moment but we want to develop and structure the next sports capital grants in a way that incentivises people to come together, particularly in respect of existing land that local authorities have, as well as looking at land that schools might have. Secondary or primary schools that need sporting facilities might have land and we can encourage them to collaborate with local sporting clubs in a way that maximises and leverages the investment for everyone in the community and makes sure it is accessible at different times of day. I look forward to engaging with the Deputy further on any ideas he has on how we can best do that. We want to make a real impact through this approach.

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