John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if policy changes are envisaged in terms of funding programmes in view of the ESRI study Sporting Lives: An Analysis of a Lifetime of Irish Sport and other research by that body; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33941/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Sports Council, ISC, which is funded by my Department has statutory responsibility for encouraging the promotion, development and co-ordination of competitive sport and increasing participation in recreational sport. All sports organisations funded by the ISC, including national governing bodies and local sports partnerships, are encouraged to target all sections of society in seeking to increase participation in sport. The ISC, within its research remit, is striving to develop a profound understanding of sport in Ireland that can inform policy and investment in the coming years.

The ISC has commissioned the Economic and Social Research Institute to undertake studies on its behalf. The fifth report in the series, Sporting Lives: An Analysis of a Lifetime of Irish Sport, sets out to track the participation of Irish people in sport over the course of their lives based on a survey of adult participation in sport in 2003. The data from the survey also allowed for an analysis of the amount and type of sport played in Ireland in recent decades and the relationship between participation in sport and personal health. The report concludes that the current generation of Irish adults are playing more sport than previous generations. That is an extremely positive outcome and one with which, collectively, we should be very pleased. Interestingly, the report indicates that 76% of all sport for people over 18 years consists of individual activities rather than team-based sports. The report also sets out the benefits of participation and concludes that people who participate in sport and exercise throughout their lives generally experience better physical and mental health than non-participants.

The report is not without its challenges, particularly with regard to gender gaps — as I mentioned to Deputy Upton — and socio-economic gaps in sports participation. Obviously the report requires careful consideration by the Department and the ISC with a view to assessing what changes might usefully be made to existing sports policy and such consideration is taking place.

The series of ESRI reports endorse the view that, as an activity with proven benefits, sport has a strong case for substantial public expenditure to support initiatives which can increase participation. This justifies the significant Government investment in sport in recent years.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

This increased investment has supported the promotion and development of Irish sport and the provision of a modern sports infrastructure, with high quality facilities catering for the participation, coaching, training and competition needs of all types of sport and at all levels. The amount of funding available for sport in 2008 is more than €335 million which will serve to further enhance and develop the sports sector. The increased funding provided for the ISC — from €13 million in 2000 to more than €57 million this year — has enabled a number of significant interventions for the benefit of disadvantaged areas. Examples include the local sports partnership network and the Buntús programme for primary schools in local sports partnership areas which involves children in sport from a very young age.

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Minister referred to a trend towards participation in individual sports. This is a reflection of lifestyles and people's unwillingness to give the time and commitment involved with team sports. It was in that context I tabled the question. If there is an argument that because more people are involved in individual sports, funding should go towards facilities for individual sports rather than team sports, I contend there should be no reduction of funding for facilities for team and field sports. I am anxious to hear the Minister's views on that issue.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy wholeheartedly. Team sports are at the core of what sport is about, particularly for younger people. Participation in team sports teaches our children so much in terms of their ability to cope with success, defeat and disappointments, their social skills and ability to interact with their friends, and their understanding of leadership and playing one's part. There is a range of benefits to participation in team sports. The challenge we all face — this is evident in some of our more traditional sports — is that in today's world the drop-off in team participation rates after the age of 16 or 18 years is significant. There is a big challenge in keeping young people of that age involved in team sports.

The other aspect of individual participation in adulthood is that it includes a lot of general physical activities such as aerobics. I am not saying these are not sports, but I am not saying they are either. The report refers to physical activity that keeps people mentally and physically well just by being involved. We cannot start building individual facilities all over the place. There is a need in some sports to provide basic training, for skills development or coaching. As a nation there are areas in which we could do a lot better. Irish people were very successful in many field sports around the turn of the last century when we participated in the Olympic Games, although not under our own flag. If one looks at the names of those who delivered medals for the United Kingdom and the United States at the time, they are nearly all Irish. This tells me there is nothing inherently wrong with the physical, mental or cultural make-up of Irish people that means we cannot be as good as any other country in field sports. In this area we do need to provide facilities. Overall, I am a strong believer in team sport.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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The Minister referred to the point I was intending to raise, the dropping out of over 16s from team sports. This is particularly significant in more socially deprived areas where the alternatives are often unattractive and undesirable such as anti-social behaviour. I wonder what specific initiatives can be taken to ensure young people who might be vulnerable are encouraged to remain in or return to sport after the age of 16 years, when they are particularly prone to dropping out. I presume it has something to do with the fact that, as they have left school, school sports facilities are no longer available to them and so on.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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There are other attractions also.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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That is true; I agree with the Minister. Nobody could do anything about those attractions, nor would they want to change them. However, there may be a significant factor that needs to be addressed; for example, in socially deprived areas we must ensure the facilities are in place to keep young people involved in sport.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Two areas are starkly identified in the most recent report which I launched some months ago — Deputy Mitchell was present — which was commissioned by the Irish Sports Council. These are the participation of young girls in sport and the participation and retention of young children in socio-economically disadvantaged areas. Coincidentally, I happened to have a meeting this week with a local sports partnership and was surprised at the people, organisations and community groups involved. This is made possible through funding from the Irish Sports Council. Significant amounts are being invested directly. Much of their remit is to work in disadvantaged areas. While there are many soccer, GAA and rugby clubs etc. in these areas, they tend not to get all the children involved. The participation of the sports partnerships in encouraging them to work in some cases directly with those clubs is allowing young children who are disadvantaged in some way to feel they can easily join a club and gain all the benefits of membership. Considerable work is being done in that regard. As a follow-up to the report commissioned by the Irish Sports Council, it is considering the new programmes we need to develop. All the sporting bodies would have recognised this issue in recent years and many programmes have been redirected. However, much work remains to be done in that area.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Team sport needs to maintain the priority it had. While after the age of 40 very few people are playing a team sport, the report indicates people are more likely to turn to another sport if they have already been playing a sport or a team sport. However, my concern is about the gender gap. That same research indicated that girls were already disadvantaged in terms of participation in sport before they even go to primary school. By the age of 20 only half as many girls as boys were involved in sport. That gap never closes and even grows over age. It cannot simply be a case of business as usual regarding how we direct funding. In particular there needs to be a concentration on finding sports that are attractive to girls. Clearly some of the team sports do not appeal to girls, for instance, rugby, although I believe tag rugby is the big thing now for girls. There needs to be a reconsideration of where funding is going if we are to get equity in participation.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy's reading of the report. It is very important to get girls interested in sport at primary level. Obviously it is much harder to engage them at an older age, as it would be with anybody who does not have that ethos and is not used to such participation. Emphasis needs to be placed on that matter. I am working with the Department of Education and Science on the schools system in its broadest sense, particularly with primary schools, to instil that opportunity into girls at that age so that they can take it through into second level education. Many sports like basketball, volleyball and hockey are becoming more popular. It is easier for girls to participate in these sports and we need to ensure we have the resources in place to do that. It is not beyond us to go down this road in coming years and to have a successful outcome by targeting the resources in the correct way and get co-ordination between all the bodies with responsibility.