Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Last week, when I saw that statements on sport were on the agenda for this week I was particularly pleased. When I saw the change to the much longer title, with a much narrower focus, for these statements, the realisation dawned that the Government benches were going to use this as an opportunity to be their own cheerleaders, focus on the positive and ignore the bigger picture and the significant challenges our sporting communities face. That said, I welcome the opportunity to highlight the positive effects that grant systems, such as the LSSIF, CSSF and sports capital programme, can have in our communities.

Sport brings people together by creating common good, fostering teamwork and friendship and breaking down social barriers, but sport needs adequate facilities to allow greatness to thrive and hearts to shine. In the last round of the large-scale sports infrastructure fund there were 96 applications with 35 being successful. Significant funding such as this is seismic for many sporting organisations throughout the entire spectrum of sport. It can alter the trajectory of a club for decades to come. That said, for those which are not successful it can also send clubs and organisations on a downward spiral with no alternative hope for the immediate future, be it to expand their facilities which, in turn, opens so many opportunities, or whatever their ambitions may have been to preserve, protect and enhance their club for generations to come.

In last year's round of applications in my constituency Drogheda United and Louth GAA were both unsuccessful in their applications. I know first-hand the impact a setback such as this can have to development plans, morale and internal harmony. This is why it is crucial that there needs to be more investment in every one of these funding streams in next week's budget and, in particular, the LSSIF.

Despite these funding setbacks for infrastructure, both clubs defied the odds and on the pitch brought so much silverware home to the wee county throughout this year.

We had the Drogs with their FAI Cup win, the Louth GAA senior footballers with the Delaney Cup, the Louth ladies with the all-Ireland junior trophy, the Louth under-20s with the Leinster cup and the Louth hurlers with the NHL division 4 title. Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement. Both Drogheda United and Louth GAA, along with the 59 other unsuccessful applicants to the large-scale sports infrastructure fund, are keen and eager to persist and to apply again. With additional funding channelled into these streams, the Minister of State holds the power to allow these sporting clubs to achieve their aspirations and, in turn, to empower their sports stars to reach for the stars.

Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael made commitments in their manifestoes to increase the betting tax from 2% to 3% and to use this funding to invest in sport. That has not been done yet. An increase of one percentage point in this levy would have raised approximately €50 million in desperately needed funding for Irish sport. Sinn Féin is committed to investing in sport, striving to increase participation and making our population healthier, stronger and more robust. The Minister of State can fund more projects and make more dreams come true if he just implements this simple measure. It is an easy win for him.

It would be remiss of me not to impress upon the Minister of State today the importance of League of Ireland academy funding in next week's budget. League of Ireland clubs have been waiting on Government funding for their academies for some years. A recent Double Pass audit of League of Ireland academies funded by this Government found that our academies lag significantly behind their international competitors in terms of full-time staff and player contact hours. Significant investment in infrastructure and personnel is required to meet standards. The audit highlighted a deficiency in full-time roles, a lack of indoor facilities and late-starting women's academies as major issues, leading the FAI to request €8 million in annual Government funding for academy improvements. While the audit is a crucial first step in establishing an academy certification model, the expectation is that this will unlock future investment. As a result, the League of Ireland academies investment proposal was submitted to the Minister of State this week in the FAI's pre-budget submission. It has taken on board feedback from the Department and Sport Ireland as well as the results of the Double Pass audit and revises the ask from last year to focus on a phased approach. In this initial phase, the proposal is for investment of €4.5 million per annum for two years, which will deliver 81 new full-time academy jobs, a women's under-15 programme for all clubs, athletic development testing equipment for all clubs, a centralised player platform to track all League of Ireland academy players and a quality assurance and audit process for all clubs.

While I acknowledge everything the Minister of State outlined in his opening statement and commend the strides that have been made so far, it is fair to say that, while much has been done, there is much more to do. I expect to see League of Ireland academy funding front and centre in next week's budget, along with enhanced funding for the LSSIF and other sporting grants to continue the positive effects the Minister of State outlined here this evening. It is not only I who expects this; nearly every house in this country has somebody involved in sport of some sort. They too will be watching in earnest to ensure the Minister of State is fulfilling his role and supporting the growth and sustainability of sport in this country.

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