Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)

We have asked Sport Ireland to conduct an exercise to assess gaps in particular sporting facilities around the country in order that we get an overall sense of what the facilities are in different areas and are able to factor that into our future sports capital considerations and announcements. My experience, and I am sure the Deputy’s too, is that almost all clubs across all sports are under pressure for space. We had seen very significant uptake in participation, with a significant closing of the gender gap in terms of female participation, which is really important, as well as across age groups and youth participation in many different sports. However, that is putting pressure on playing facilities. I rarely visit a sports club which is comfortable with the space and facilities it has for the demand it has. We need to continue to invest across all sports but we also need to look at where the acute needs are and factor that into the considerations. The work Sport Ireland is doing will be important in informing us around that.

See this speech in context