Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)

This is something Deputy Smith is committed to and he has been speaking to me about it separately. I look forward to visiting the Deputy and Deputy Maxwell in the constituency in advance of the next round opening up, and making sure that we provide every opportunity for clubs to apply and to be funded.

It is wonderful to see the impact and the value for money that any investment by the Government results in. When it comes into a club, you see everyone come together. You see people giving voluntarily of their time, not only in terms of the work that goes on day in, day out, every week day and weekend, providing coaching but also when it comes to developing that club, with people coming together to work, often voluntarily as well, to make sure that whatever funding is there from the Government and through fundraising goes as far as it possibly can. We will be back at that next year with the reopening of the sports facility fund.

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