Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)

There is no denying the benefits of sport for our mental and physical health. Our boys and girls across Louth, as Deputy McGreehan has said, have benefited from a vast amount of sports capital grants. However, there are two blips in that horizon at present. One is that Louth does not have a county GAA stadium. Deputy McGreehan has rightly pointed out that we are all 100% behind the missing funding that is needed to complete the stadium. It is a place where we can bring communities, young boys and young girls, together. They are missing a small portion after a huge amount of fundraising. I too urge the Minister of State to make up that shortfall for funding so Louth can be a county with its own GAA stadium. It is the only county in Ireland that does not have a stadium.

The second blip, and I am quite sure Deputy Byrne will bring this up if she has not done so before, is that the Drogs need a home. They were the two that were left out, for whatever reason, last year and they must be addressed. We have a Drogheda issue and a Dundalk issue, one soccer and the other GAA, but both bring a huge contribution not just to the children of the town but also to the children of the rural areas. I ask the Minister of State to please address those issues.

While I am on my feet, I have to say we have inspirational sports people in County Louth, such as Eve McCrystal on cycling, Amy Broadhurst in boxing and the fierce Kate O'Connor, who recently was so good to bring home a silver medal. These ladies have struggled when facilities were not there. As my colleague in the Social Democrats pointed out, they have a team behind them who are very often not paid or have to take time off. We were recently approached by a member of Kate O'Connor's team who said they had had to take a leave of absence from work, which was not paid, in order to help Kate in her pursuit of a medal. This also needs to be addressed.

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